


Believing in your heart! That's your superpower!

by Satanick1



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, BUT i will still focus on minor characters now and then, College, Depression, Diakko, Dianakko, F/F, F/M, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Harm, Superheroes, Superpowers, This will probably be... loooong, akko and diana are the main protagonists, akko will probably die because of that eventually, can you judge me tho, diana wears a lot of suits, really gay, so I will focus on them a lot more than the others, yes i was really inspired by my hero academia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:08:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22767508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Satanick1/pseuds/Satanick1
Summary: Atsuko Kagari was born in a world where it's rare to be gifted with superpowers. Those who are, however, are supposedly destined to maintain the peace in the world. We all know that's not how it works though, since 50% of the people that are born with powers wish to spread nothing but evil.Well, Akko wasn't born with superpowers.But that didn't stop her from joining Luna Nova Academy, a school that aims to teach you how to fight off the baddies.-Diana Cavendish was surely unfortunate to be born in such a cruel world. When the people you thought that cared about you took everything you loved away, you unconsciously learn how to walk in the darkness.She is very powerful, she was told.But what does it matter when you are strong physically and broken inside?{Hiatus, because lack of inspiration in this one...}
Relationships: Diana Cavendish/Atsuko "Akko" Kagari, Hannah England/Amanda O'Neill, Sucy Manbavaran/Lotte Yanson, Ursula Callistis | Chariot du Nord/Croix Meridies
Comments: 74
Kudos: 156





	1. I'll get there!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Before you read it, I want to warn you guys that I'm Brazilian and still not completely fluent in English, but I tried my best! However, if you do find a mistype, please inform me! I would be glad!
> 
> So, I was drawing the other day and thought "what if,,,,, little witch academia mashed up with superheroes."
> 
> then i looked for it in the internet and didn't find anything that resembled my idea, so i went for it!
> 
> This is also my first fanfic, so I'm kinda nervous. So, anyways... I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Oh, and, uh, here's this cape thingy I made for the fanfic  
> https://satanick-1.tumblr.com/post/190872672351/okay-so

Let me start from the very, very beginning!   
  


Hi! My name is Atsuko Kagari. I was born in Japan, in 2003, so I’m 17 as I speak. I’m not gonna explain everything I did in my life before I moved to New York, but my childhood was pretty amazing! My parents always supported me in everything, just used to tell me a LOT to be careful.

Which… I was not. Well… allow me to explain it to you! 

Shiny Chariot was my favorite superhero. I live in a world where it’s rare to be born with powers; and those who are born with them are usually those who were “destined” to maintain the peace in the world. The statistics are that approximately 100 people are born with special perks every year. Scientists realized, however, that this number has been increasing in the past 3 years or so. They counted 110, then 120, with their final results being 135 people being born with superpowers.

I was _not_ one of them. 

But I _wanted_ to be one.

Ever since I was a little child, I loved reading comic books about heroes and watching the news to see if my favorite, Shiny Chariot, would appear to give an interview. It was quite often, to be honest! Chariot was super-duper kind and was always happy to answer any questions they threw at her!

And little Atsuko Kagari wanted to be JUST LIKE Shiny Chariot. So much that she prayed and wished every night that somehow she would be given powers. Any kind of powers… Obviously, it never happened. But do you really think I was going to give up that easily? No, no, no. That was just the beginning of it.

When I noticed I simply wouldn’t gain powers just by praying and wishing, I started putting my plans into practice. 

I trained every day in the most dangerous ways possible. I wasn’t about to give up! I could feel deep in my chest that I had something special in me. And that something was going to make me walk towards my own success (I was just 7! give me a break!). I swear to god, I have no idea how my okaasan’s heart is so stable and healthy until this day! I SWEAR I used to give her a mini heart-attack every single day. My otousan was more about the fun and all, so he mostly helped me with everything. I owe them both my whole world!   
  


So I put myself in some… really bad situations. I was so willing to prove my parents and especially myself that I had super-powers that one day I tried jumping off the building I lived on.

So… yeah. I could’ve died. I almost killed myself there. But someone saved me… And before y’all ask, no, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Shiny Chariot.

She was actually taller than Chariot and I could pretty much tell she wasn’t from Japan, but she wore superhero clothes, that’s for sure. 

**\-----**

‘Oh no.

Oh no.

What did I do?!

I’m falling! What was I thinking? 

I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to die!’

I felt my eyes tear up. And there I was, a seven-year-old girl too shocked to even scream for help, convincing myself that because I had that stupid idea, I would never be able to show the world what I was capable of. 

I closed my eyes, waiting for the moment I hit the ground.

But it never happened.

I kept my eyes close for a moment, still scared to open them and face the fact that I almost died. Or that I died and didn’t feel any pain at all…

“Hey, little lady, what do you think you’re doing? You could’ve hurt yourself pretty bad there!” I heard a feminine and serious voice coming from the person that just saved me. “Are you okay? where are your parents?” She asked, putting me on the ground.

I was shaking, still with my eyes closed. I was so scared, but I forced myself to open my eyes and face the woman. 

She had a blond flowing hair with tea-green stripes on it, and her blue eyes looked at me in a very worried tone. She was kneeling in front of me. Yeah, I recognized that face almost instantly. That was **Lotus** ; one of the most loved heroes I’ve ever seen. She was usually known for the fact that she didn’t have just one super-power, but two! One of them was healing; Super-healing. She could heal from little cuts to body limbs missing. Lotus was up there with Chariot! The second one hadn’t been published to this day, but people knew she had it because she was able to defeat villains that were considered legendary and unreachable.

“I-I’m sorry, miss Lotus!” I almost shouted, looking at the ground. “I… I just wanted to see If I could fly…My parents are sleeping…T-thank you for saving me…”

I heard her sigh. “Wanted to fly, eh? like the almighty Shiny Chariot?” She put a smile on her own face, immediately earning a smile from me. She probably noticed the shirt I was wearing, which had a big picture of Shiny Chariot in the center of it.

“Yeah! she’s my idol!”

“And you want to be like her. That’s why you jumped.” I nodded, blushing. She chuckled. “So if you’re her fan-”

“ _Number one fan!_ ”   
  
“-number one fan, then I presume you know her old catchphrase that she always says after saving people.” Lotus raised an eyebrow, smiling. “A believing heart…”   
  
“That’s your super-power.” A looked at my feet, still a bit embarrassed. “- _My_ super-power…”

That’s when we heard something loud coming from the center of the city. Lotus looked at what looked like a big explosion happening in there. Sighing, she got up again and, in a heroic pose, said: “Well, there he is. It seems like they need my aid back there…” I remember feeling her hand on my head, caressing my hair lovingly. She then walked away, stopping for a second and looking over her shoulder. “Try to keep yourself out of trouble, okay, little miss? After all, you will not be able to impress Shiny Chariot in the future if you end up dying in the process.” She smiled one last time. “Good luck, kid…”

\----

And that’s the story of how Sucy exterminated the planet with mushrooms.

I mean… what? Oh, sorry, I think that’s the wrong fanfic. Shit, sorry. Sorry reader. Just ignore that, okay?

But let’s continue. Where was I? Oh, yeah, when I almost killed myself trying to fly.

Okay, so after that, I thought a lot about Lotus' words. They were permanently stucked in my head, it seemed. ‘You will not be able to impress Shiny Chariot in the future if you end up dying in the process.’

And she was right, actually. I never told my parents about the whole Lotus incident, they would probably die from a heart-attack. But both of them noticed how I changed after that. I still trained a lot, I wasn’t going to give up on my dreams of becoming the future hero this world needed, but I slowed down a lot.

That is, let me remind you that I had 7 years when all of that happened. I’m pretty much awesome now! I can do parkour, kung fu, and I’m not as dumb as I was before! (I know you are thinking “‘cause ur dumber”. hahahah you’re so funny. Get this smirk out of your face!)

\----

One year ago, Luna Nova Academy, one of the most well-known hero schools that ever existed, started letting a lot of students that don’t have powers enter the school, as apparently they noticed there were a lot of talented people around the world that didn’t actually need powers to fight off the bad guys.

But as you are probably thinking, it was really expensive. Absolutely everything, really… after all, I used to live in Japan. It is pretty far from New York. And if that wasn’t enough, to enter in Luna Nova you had to do a big test with a lot of… questions about how to behave like a hero, some of them like “What would you do if you were to find a well-known villain and you were by yourself?”. There was ALSO the practical test, which… actually, for everyone, there was a different test. 

For me, they sent in a professor, without any warnings at all to attack my family and me, disguised as a villain, and I had to somehow save my parents and show I was capable of being a hero to the supposed “villain”.

It was so fucking difficult. So FUCKING difficult. I barely land a hit on the professor, she was way too fast for me. But I did manage to trap her into thinking I was surrendering, then knocking her down with a well-deserved punch in the face.

When I supposedly knocked her down, my parents simply got up from the ground, smiling, and I was so frickin’ confused. 

‘They were hurt seconds ago! How did they get up as if nothing happened???’ I remember thinking. Then I almost shit myself when I saw the woman that I punched in the face get up.

‘shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit _her nose is bleeding_ shit _she must be very angry_ oh shit of fuckkkkk’ I thought.

But all she did was clean her nose and smile at me. I got even more confused than before.

“Congratulations, Miss Kagari, you proved that you really are capable of growing and turning into a hero.” My eyes widened and my heart started racing. “My name is Ursula Callistis. I’m a professor at Luna Nova Academy and they sent me so I could judge if you’re worth it or not. I must say, you are quite strong physically... “ She said, checking her nose and flinching at the pain.

“... what” I pretty much took between 3 to 5 minutes processing everything. When I did, though, I screamed. I screamed so loud I bet the whole city heard it.

I was going to Luna Nova Academy!

The place where Shiny Chariot, the ONE AND ONLY, graduated!

I was GOING TO BE A HERO!

**\----**

“I’ll never be a hero” I basically groaned as I sat with my two roommates, Sucy Manbavaran and Lotte Yanson, on Luna Nova’s main garden. There were nine big statues there, resembling the Nine Olde Maidens, the first women to be born with superpowers and use it for nothing but the good of people around them. They were legendary, mythical, and it was almost unbelievable people as powerful as them existed. “IT’S TOO BORING!”

“Come on Akko… It isn’t _so_ bad.” Lotte said, as she rubbed circles my back calmly.

“I mean, did you really think being a hero is all about fighting and beating people up?” Sucy snickered, looking down at a glass with some kind of weird liquid on it.

“I mean, YEAH! That’s what it looked like in the tv and in the comics, at least!” I shouted, laying on the ground.

“But this isn’t a comic book, Akko, it's real life… I don’t mean to be rude, but to be a superhero you’ll need to actually study. It does require a lot of understanding in other subjects, like Math, Physics an-” Lotte started, but I interrupted her by brutally getting up again.

“IT’S WAY TOO BORING! I honestly thought it would be at least a little bit of fun in here!” I smiled, posing heroically. “Fight the bad guys and prove I’m totally capable of being a superhero even if I don’t have any powers!!”   
  
“Like that batguy?” Sucy looked up at me, seemingly disinterested.

“The Batman, yeah! He’s too serious though, I would probably be like… a mix between Spiderman AND Batman!” I raised my hand to my chin, thinking. “Spider- Bat-... SPATMAN!” I jumped! ‘yeah!!! that’s awesome, way to go, Atsuko!!’ I thought, proudly. Then I looked at Lotte and Sucy, who looked confused.

  
  


“I’m sorry, but you can’t be a “Super”Hero if you don’t have any “Super”powers” I heard someone say behind me. Angry, I turned to the direction I heard the voice.

“Hey! I can and I will be a hero!” 

“I never said you weren’t able to become a hero. But the word “Super” refers to someone with superpowers, you know.” Said the girl with blond and green hair and weirdly wearing a boy’s uniform--- or some kind of replica of it, anyway. There were two girls smirking behind her. “I really don’t mean to be rude to you. But that is a fact, nonetheless…”

I crossed my arms, staring at her. “You must think you’re so awesome looking down at people like that, you stuck up bitc---!!!” Lotte widened her eyes, getting up in a jump and covering my mouth in a hurry.

The girl I was confronting sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. The two girls that were behind her stepped forward, looking between a weird mix of smug and angry at the same time.

“Do you even know who you’re talking to, you misled brat?” The auburn-haired girl said, crossing her arms.

“Why am I supposed to know, anyway? You three look like a bad parody version of The Three Little Pigs!”

Both girls that were in the front seemed offended by that, but the one I was actually meaning to offend looked unaffected. That got me really angry.

“Akko! Shut up!” Sucy also got up, slapping my head and earning a loud ‘OUCH!!’ from me.

“Honestly! You are completely hopeless if you never heard or seen THE Diana Cavendish in any hero magazine or tv show!” The black-haired girl laughed.

“Let it go, girls. There’s no mean to be rude like that to the new girl.” ‘’‘Diana’’’ said, walking to me.

Lotte quickly got in front of me, with a large false smile on her face. “Hey Di- M-Miss Cavendish! I know Akko here can be a big dumbass sometimes but she surely doesn’t mean it!”   
  
“She’s an airhead.” Sucy added up.

“What the fuck girls?” I looked at both of them. Sucy slapped me in the back of my head again.

Diana raised an eyebrow, smiling. “There’s no need for that, Miss Yanson. I was just going to congratulate the new girl for proceeding in entering Luna Nova Academy without any powers.”

.

.

.

“WHAT” everyone there except Diana said in unison, even the two girls that were walking with her

She looked at everyone. “What, did you think I was going to hit her? I’m pretty sure she is capable of defending herself. After all, she is standing in one of the most prestigious hero schools in this moment. But nonetheless, it is pretty amazing that she managed to do it.” Lotte got out of the way, then Diana extended her hand to me. 

“...???????” I tilted my head to the side. “i just called you a bitch”

“Reasonable. I acted rude towards you, so I would not expect anything less than that. So my apologies. Well? my arm is getting quite tired.”

I shook her hand, still confused.

She reminded me of someone.

“Well, let us introduce properly then.” Diana glanced at the girls behind her. “Right, Hannah, Barbara?”

The two trembled. Diana giggled, stepping back. “I’m Diana Cavendish. These two are my roommates, Hannah England and Barbara Parker. They pretend to be cold and rude but they are actually sweethearts. They usually do that because they are very protective of me.”

Hannah and Barbara blushed, looking away. Hannah cleared her throat. “Okay then. Sorry for that back there.”

“Y-yeah.. sorry, I guess…”

“well that’s gay” Sucy mumbled.

“Well, aah-- I guess we should introduce as well then!” My confused frown was replaced with a smiley face. “Name’s Atsuko Kagari! Call me Akko!”

“Oh? It appears we have a japanese classmate then.” Diana shot a gentle smile at me. I blushed a bit. Just a tidy bit.

“This is Lotte Yanson and Sucy Manbavaran! Sucy is also a sweetheart who pretends to be cold-” and then I felt another slap to my head. “THEFUCK SUCY? what did I do this time?!”

She rolled her eyes, blushing a little, but didn’t say anything.

Diana crossed her arms, smiling. Then we heard the bell ringing. “It looks like we should be going.” She turned, “Until we see each other again, miss Kagari. I am looking forward to work with you in a near future.”

They walked towards our classroom. 

Diana Cavendish, eh? You are… interesting.

  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Sticks and stones...may... break my bones?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko finally gets what she wants; physical practice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! 
> 
> I don't have much to say about this one, just that I'm sorry if it feels a little rushed. I'm still getting the hand of this fanfic thing, specially fighting scenes.
> 
> I reviewed this chapter 5 times or so, but it still has a lot of mistypes. Please inform me if you find one!
> 
> If you have any suggestions or opinions about my writing style, feel free to leave it in the comment section. This is my first fanfic, and I'm still learning.

I sat between Sucy and Lotte, trying to focus on what our professor was saying. It was still the first day, but it already felt like I’ve been here for years. Believe me, that’s pretty negative coming from someone who spent their whole lives dreaming to be here.

But I’m sure it will get better when we get to the physical part. Beating people up will me awesome! And I still want to find out what are Lotte and Sucy’s powers. I already asked them, but they both told me it would be better if they show me when we get to our physical classes, since people here aren’t really allowed to use their powers inside of the buildings. I just met them yesterday in person and wanted to go outside for them to show me, but they were kind of tired. I mean, it was past midnight, so I get why.

They were going to show me today, but Diana ended up interrupting it. I still don’t know how I feel about her and her friends. Sure, she was kind, but when I looked directly at her eyes I saw something… weird. Something I've never seen before. It was like she wasn’t even there, despite her showing emotions and actually laughing. It just felt odd.

That got me both worried and scared. I quickly threw a glance at her to see what she was doing. Surprisingly, she seemed to be one of the only ones actually giving a fuck about class. Hannah and Barbara were talking to each other. I wonder why those two look more like followers than friends? I mean, Diana did say they were very protective of her. Maybe they really were, I don’t know, I met them 2 hours ago.

When Diana noticed I was staring, she looked back at me. I felt my face heating up. Gosh, what was about this girl that made me feel this weird sting in my chest?

Then, she smiled at me, pointing at the teacher. Still blushing, I looked at where she was pointing and noticed Ms. Finnelan was looking at me. I looked around and people were all focused again. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me…’

“Miss Kagari, I am rather disappointed at how you are behaving right now. This may be a school made for the future saviours of the world, but it is still a school! I demand your attention!” She screamed.

I flinched. “Geez, okay, sorry Miss Finnelan!” I lowered my head, noticing a worried look coming from Lotte. Gosh she was such a sweetheart. “It won’t happen again. I promise.”

Professor Finnelan sighed. “Very well.” She then went back to the blackboard, pointing at something. “Now that I finally have everyone focusing at their studies, I want someone to answer how and why human beings gained superpowers in the first place.”

Well, that got awkward. The class went totally quiet and Miss Finnelan pinched the bridge of her nose. She was about to say something when I saw Diana stand up from her chair.

“I believe it was due the titans reawakening in the 3rd century. You see, Miss Finnelan, there are two types of titans; those who promised to protect the human beings, using all their resources to keep humanity safe and those who were rebellious and believed they were way too superior than us to protect us. All the titans lived underground, except one; Flumen, Titan of Water. He maintained himself above the ground for he produced the very water that we drink to this day. However, humans were selfish and believed that the titan would eventually turn against them; so then it happened. The “Flood”, as the religious may say. Sensing that their brother was in great danger, all of the 3 titans that protected the humanity rose above the ground to save their brother, but Arcturus, Titan of Darkness. turned against the humans and his brothers. So they fought for a century.” Diana sighed. “When the fight ended, there were barely any life in the planet left. All the brothers, including Arcturus, reunited to recreate the human being, this time from their own skin. Those who have powers were blessed by the powers of the titans that created us;” She then noticed everyone was looking at her, shocked. Yeah, that included me. “That’s the reasonable answer, since scientists found journals from people that lived in that time. I believe that is all. May I sit?”

Professor Finnelan looked pretty shocked too. It was kind of funny seeing her like that though. “Y-yes, you may sit. Thank you Miss Cavendish, you really are the pride of this school!”

Diana smiled, sitting down again. 

“Diana that was incredible!!” Hannah told her, hugging Diana’s left arm. Diana blushed, giggling.

“You are the absolute best student this school has ever had! In the future, I’m sure you will be the hero that will save the world!” Barbara said, hugging Diana’s right arm. Diana blushed even more, embarrassed.

“Stop that, girls…” she mumbled

  
“akko”

I crossed my arms, pouting. Did she really have to show up like that? Honestly, that was unnecessary.

“akko…”

She could’ve just said that the titans fought, not tell this stupid story to show how smart she is. We already know that you are smart, Diana! We know you’re a Cavendish! cut the crap! Wait, where did that come from? Why am I acting like this?

and then I felt Sucy slapping the back of my head.

“OW! What was that for?!”

“You were swooning over Diana.” She said, chuckling. Lotte was also giggling a little bit.

“I was absolutely not! I was just thinking about how stupid she is, trying to show off like that…”

Sucy rolled up her eyes and simply stood up. "She just answered the professor. Quit being gay." I opened my mouth to protest, but Lotte interrupted me.

“Everyone already left. We have physical practice now.” Lotte said. My eyes started shining as I jumped out of the chair and starting running towards the training camp. Lotte and Sucy looked at each other, smiling, then followed me.

\----

“OKAY, KIDS! I’M PROFESSOR NELSON AND I’M YOUR PRACTICAL TEACHER!”

I arrived just in time. All the students, including me, Lotte and Sucy, changed to our practical uniforms. Pretty much everyone there changed. The only one that, AS ALWAYS, was different from the rest was Diana, who was still wearing her usual uniforms. The heck? is she god to be different than all of us now?

“So since it’s your very first day, your first assignment will be simple: I simply want you do show me your powers so I can evaluate them.” I gulped. Simple? That’s not simple for someone who doesn’t have any powers!! “As for those are in lack of any powers and are here because they took the test, please stay in the bench and wait for your time. I have a different exercise for you later.”

I sighed in relief, sitting in the bench. I wasn’t alone, though, since there was a little girl with dark blue hair, which was tied by a pink bow behind her back. She looked very emotionless. I haven’t noticed it before since she is really short, but like Diana, she wasn’t wearing our training uniform as well. Instead, she wore a long-sleeved blue jacket in top of a white t-shirt and brown gloves that almost covered her whole arms.

“Uuuuh… hey. I’m Akko.” I looked at her, smiling. She simply made eye contact with me, giving a thumbs up looking back at the training field. What the--.. wait, was she mute?

“Okay! I’ll be going in alphabetic order. Uuuuh… Amanda O’Neil.” Professor Nelson called. I looked up, excited.

A girl with red and yellow hair took one step forward, smiling confidently. “That’s me.”

“So, what do you have to show us?”

“Tell me one place you really like from new york city and a snack you really like.” She was smirking. The heck? Was her power to summon any kind of food?

“What? We have no time for jokes, Miss O’n-”

“It’s part of my special perk. Just tell me already.”

Professor Nelson rolled her eyes. “Spicy nachos from Karrie’s spicyal place.”

“Got it.” Then she disappeared… in… a flash? leaving everyone literally in the dust…

10 seconds later she was back, holding spicy nachos. My stomach grumbled.

Nelson laughed a little. “Super-Speed, huh? impressive, O’Neill. You can go sit with the girls in the bench”

Amanda walked towards us, sitting beside the blue-haired girl. “Hey, conz, how’d I go? pretty fucking awesome, huh?” The girl gave a thumbs up. Then I noticed Amanda turning her attention at me. “Oh, hey, you’re the other powerless girl, aren’t ya?”

“I… I guess so?” Should I be offended?

“That’s so fucking cool! I was actually confused when I heard they were actually letting people without powers entering the school, but when Constanze here turned out to be my teammate, I was like, ‘the heckkkkk’. This girl right here-” She messed up Constanze’s hair, earning a glare from her. “- this girl is a fucking BEAST! let me tell you, a beast! Just wait and you’ll see what I’m talkin’ bout!”

“oooh! I’m excited to see what you have, Constanze!” I smiled at her.

Some people passed until she called Barbara's name. Even if I have no idea about who is Barbara and who is Hannah. I'm sorry but minions all sound the same to me. I mean, since she is just Diana's follower her power is probably crappy. Usually in the comic books it's like that.

"Barbara Parker… Your family is greatly known for being consisted by only villains." I perked up. Barbara lowed her head. "I'm happy to see you chose to prove their ways of thinking are wrong. Well, show me what you got."

Barbara gulped, looking at Hannah and Diana. Diana gave two thumbs up and a gentle smile while Hannah mouthed a "Go for it! Remember what we trained!"

Barbara slowly nodded, closing her eyes and concentrating herself. 'What is she doing?' I thought. 'Aren't sidekicks supposed to be useless?'

That's when I noticed; All the shadows, and I mean ALL of them, were being attracted by Barbara. Like they were being sucked or something. The shadows started to slowly consume her, transforming her into a human-sized shadow.

"You can control all types of shadows, I see… I believe that is kind of dangerous, so I suggest you get back to normal and sit there in the bench. Don't worry, I know you are far more useful than that. But you can't deny it is dangerous if you lose control of it, Miss Parker."

Barbara went back to her normal formal, nodding. Wowzies. She looked kind of sad.

She sat with us in silence.

"Hey, Barb!" We hear Hannah scream. Barbara looked at her. "That was awesome! you are awesome!"

Barbara spread a smile across her face. "Thank you, Han!"

"I don't get it." I told her, confused. Barbara, Amanda and Constanze looked at me.

"What?" Barbara asked.

"What IS your power? You basically didn't do anything!"

She frowned. "Why do you want to know? I don't have to tell you anything!"

"I was just asking!" I huffed as we continued to watch people demonstrating their powers.

After some time waiting, I finally got what I was looking for.

"Next is…" Nelson shouted. "Diana Cavendish!"

"Well, let's see what this Cavendish girl is all about." Amanda crossed her arms.

Barbara giggled. "She probably won't be able to share it properly."

"What? Why?" I looked at her.

"Diana doesn't know how to play this game. If she wants, she may as well destroy the whole campus with just a few punches."

"What? is she Saitama?" I confusingly scratched my head.

"Of course not. She can't destroy everything with one punch, you moron, that's not her power. Well, you will see."

"Wait. Barbara, how do you know who Saitama is?"

Barbara blushed. "Let's not talk about that ever again. Look, Diana's starting."

Everyone looked at Diana closely.

"As you probably know, professor Nelson, I can't…"

"Use your power very properly just yet. Yes, I understand." She smiled. "Just explain it."

"Actually I'm afraid to use it simply because I can't control it yet… Well, let's see what I can do." Diana stood there for a moment, with her eyes closed.

"What's she doing?" I whispered to Barbara.

Then Diana's hand began to glow- but not any kind of glow. It looked like her skin was tearing apart and the glow was coming directly from inside of her. She pulled up her sleeve a little bit, showing that it had taken her wrist too. I could see a slightly painful face coming from her… yikes, from the looks of it, it really must hurt…

"Diana, if it is hurting you, I suggest that you-"

"No, it will be fine. I'm just not used to it yet." She sighed. "What happens is that I absorb energy from living beings like plants and animals. It doesn't do any harm to them, it just makes the animals feel a little bit tired. This energy that I absorb pulse through my veins, giving me immeasurable strength, speed and resistance."

I widened my eyes. 'Are those white things… her veins?' I touched my own hand. 'that hurts just from seeing it…'

"The more energy I absorb, the stronger I get. I can also absorb energy from humans, but I choose not to."

Professor Nelson flinched. "Cavendish, is it true that…"

"That if I exaggerate, I will die? Yes. I must be very careful to not end up letting the energy get through my brain." she chuckled. "Mother taught me that."

Professor just stood there, looking at her for a moment. 'What's… going on?' I noticed Barbara and Hannah were holding the urge to go there and hug Diana as tight as they possibly could.

After a few seconds, Diana's hand went back to normal. The marks of their veins were still visible though…

"These are only temporar-" Professor Nelson hugged Diana.

"You know what, kid? You are amazing. If Bernadette was here, she'd be so proud of you. Not many can just stand their veins pulsing like as if they were going to pop out. Your mom did, so she could save people. I can see a lot of her in you Diana." She pulled away, smiling. "Now go to the bench. We still have much to do."

Diana was in a state of pure shock, but obeyed. When she sat beside Barbara, she received a hug from her friend. I couldn't take my eyes out of Diana. 'How… how can someone be able to tolerate a pain like that? It seemed like… like her veins were going to explode…'

"Miss Kagari?" Diana woke me up there. "Are you alright?"

I shook my head. "Y-yeah! that was awesome! does it hurt a lot?"

"Unimaginably so…" she whispered, almost inaudible. "but it is quite alright. I'm already getting used to it."

I nodded. "Can you do anything more besides turning into superman?"

Diana giggled. "I can also heal people and cure diseases. It is a little harder since I have to convert the energy in my veins in healing energy. But pretty much, I think that's it. I just think people think too highly of me even if I'm not at all better than anyone here."

I tilted my head to the side. 'I really can't seem to hate you. You are so nice.' I smiled.

wait, what?

healing powers?

I looked at the ground, biting my nail. Blond and green hair… blue eyes… healing powers… kind heart…

"ARE YOU LOTUS' DAUGHTER?!?!?" I screamed.

She seemed to almost have a heart-attack. "Calm down, Atsuko!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE HER DAUGHTER! actually I can, you two are completely identical. BUT WHAT? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!"

"We've known each other for less than 4 hours.." Diana frowned.

"Oh yeah. That's also true. BUT STILL! That's awesome! she was awesome! Definitely my second favorite after Chariot!!" I clapped my hands happily. “Can you tell me about her? She saved me a while back and I still want to thank her for it. I mean, I did thank her at the time, but I want to really show her my gratitude. Is she a good mom? She looks fantastic!”

Diana turned away her gaze and I frowned my brows. “Diana?”

"I need to go to the bathroom." Diana smiled weakly getting up from heir chair. “I’ll be back in a minute.” then she walked away from us.

Amanda, Barbara and Constanze were all looking at me. “What?” I asked.

“I don’t wanna look judgy, but that wasn’t cool, y’know?” Amanda said, scratching the back of her neck.

“What? Did I say something wrong?” 

“Do you live under a rock or something?” Barbara shook her head in disappointment. “Lotus died in a mission 10 years ago. This is a really touchy subject to talk about to Diana, so if you were trying to upset her, congratulations.”

“I-I wasn’t…” I looked at my feet. Shit, I really fucked up… I rarely watched TV since Chariot disappeared and avoided any news because I didn’t want to feel bad, so that’s why I wasn’t aware of Lotus’ death. I should’ve imagined that from what professor Nelson said earlier. What the fuck was I thinking… 

I stood up. “If the professor calls me, tell her I’m in the bathroom. Okay?”

“Right…” Amanda mumbled.

So I went looking for Diana. 

Well, she did say that she was going to the bathroom. Maybe she was? Only one way to find out….

I walked to the first bathroom that I saw- which was surprisingly far from the training field- and opened the door slowly, worried that I might startle Diana or anyone else that might’ve been there.

I saw Diana looking at herself in the mirror, leaned on the sink’s edges. She took off the uniform’s jacket, wearing only her button up shirt and her black tie. She looked a bit tense and for a moment I hesitated in entering the bathroom.

‘Maybe she wants to be alone…’ I thought for a second, but shook my head right after. ‘No… I made her feel bad, so I have to apologize.’

“Diana?” I opened the door.

“Oh?” Diana looked at me. “Hello, Atsuko”

“Hey, huh...I just wanted to apologize for what I said earlier. I didn’t know…”

She gave me a reassuring smile, stepping towards me. Despite the smile that she threw at me, I could still see it. She was hurting. “It’s perfectly fine. Don’t worry too much about it.”

I nodded, still feeling guilty. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Hm.” She put her hands in her pockets, thoughtful. “I don’t believe so, no. But if I’m being honest, there’s no need for that. It’s been a long time since she passed away and I should be… okay by now.”

“... are you?”

She stopped for a second, looking at the ground. I could tell she wasn’t okay, but I still wanted to hear what she had to say. “I don’t know. I surely do hope so.” Diana closed her eyes.

I didn’t know what to do; so, out of impulse, I pulled her for a loving embrace. I heard her breath tremble a little bit, like she wasn't expecting that.

“H-Hm? Atsuko?” She asked. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m just really sorry…”

She giggled. “You’re fine. However, I believe we should be back by now. Professor Nelson wouldn’t be happy if she called your name and you weren’t there.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” I backed away and she went back to the sink, washing her face, then putting her jacket on again. I had this question in my mind… “Why do you wear the boy’s uniform?”

Diana looked at me, blushing. “Oh, uh, it was an accident actually. I accidentally ended up buying the wrong pack of clothes.”

“Why didn’t you just change then?”

She blushed even more. “This one’s more comfortable… I guess?”

I let out a giggle, watching her turn into a literal tomato. “That’s kinda cute. It suits you a lot though!" I told her. "Oh I gotta hurry or Professor will call me and I won't be there. I'll see you in the training field.” 

{Change of Point of View - Diana Cavendish}

I silently watched as Atsuko walked away from the bathroom, waving before exiting the door. I felt my face heating up a little more, then I let out a frustrated sigh. I wasn’t… exactly... lying but it’s still a touchy subject. Hannah and Barbara asked me the same thing when I showed up wearing this uniform in the first time, and I gave them the exact same answer. Both of them were my friends since I was little, So while I was hesitating to show it to them, in the end they showed nothing but full support towards me. I'm so lucky for having them with me.

What actually happened is that I bought the masculine uniform on purpose. I had to tell aunt Daryl that it was an accident for she was freaking out about it, telling me I should wear something more feminine. "You are a girl, Diana! You have to dress like one! Don't act like some of those… Dykes, butches, whatever it is you kids call it these days!", she told me. I found that extremely unnecessary; I'm not exactly dressing like a man, I'm simply dressing like a normal person. A girl doesn't have to wear dresses if she doesn't wish to. The only thing Aunt Daryl did was reassure me that she is a sexist and homophobic bastard. Even then, I told her that I would change the uniform by the end of the day. I didn't want to create any more conflicts.

However, I will be honest, I won’t change them. The fact that I don’t exactly live with her anymore helps me, but if she did find out that I’m still wearing this uniform, she would probably kill me.

I really do feel more comfortable, so that is why I bought them.

Regardless, I looked at myself in the mirror one last time, then I head back to the Campus.

\----

When I went back, I noticed Hannah was already sitting on the bench; so I lost her performance. I frowned, 'What a good friend I am.' Murmured to myself.

“Oh, hey, Di!” Hannah said, looking at me. They both gave me some space so I could sit between them. They have always done that, although I never understood why; When I say 'Always', I mean since we were children. I came to the conclusion that they saw me as their leader, though I heavily disagree with them. We are a team, we need each other's aid and most importantly, I really am not superior to anyone. That includes Hannah and Barbara.

“I apologize for missing your demonstration, Hannah.” I told her, sitting on the spot they gave me.

“Don’t worry about it! You already know about my power anyways.” Hannah gave me an honest smile.

“You should’ve seen it! Han was incredible!” Barbara shouted excitedly.

“She is always incredible.” I added. The compliments made Hannah blush.

“Stop it, you two.”

I laughed. Looking around us, I noticed a lot of people were already sitting on the bench, including Atsuko’s roommates. ‘I believe we are near the end.’ I thought.

"Aw, I can't believe I missed you two demonstrating your special perks!" Atsuko pouted sadly, then I heard Lotte giggle.

"We're roommates Akko, I'm sure we'll have another opportunity to show it to you. Stop being so fucking dramatic." Sucy said.

"Hey!" Atsuko crossed her arms, looking angrily at her friend. "I'll stop being dramatic when you stop being an asshole!"

"I may be an asshole, but I'm an honest asshole."

"I think you're a bitchy asshole!"

Lotte groaned, interrupting their argument. "I swear I'm going to hit you two if you don't keep your mouths shut!"

Suddenly, they both went quiet. I haven't noticed until now how obedient they were regarding Lotte.

I smiled.

'This team really is something.'

\----

“Next is…” Professor Nelson looked through her spreadsheet. “Atsuko Kagari and Constanze Amalie Von Braunschbank Albretchsberger. What a name…”

“what the fuck is that name” I heard Atsuko mumble. 

"Good luck Cons." O'Neill gave her an encouragement thumbs up. "Don't forget how awesome you are!"

Constanze's lips turned upwards.

"When you're done, we should all go to the ice cream store!" The girl that was sitting beside Amanda said.

The short girl nodded, walking towards professor Nelson and waiting for Atsuko.

“I want you two to spar.”

“What? right now? But why?”   
  
“You two don’t have any powers and as I can see you don’t have any weapons either. So I assumed you two would want to show how strong you are.” the professor sat in the bench. “Prepare yourselves. When I tell you to start, I want you two to show me what you're capable of.”

I looked at the girl in front of Atsuko. I already met Constanze before, since her father is very famous in the engineering business; I was quite surprise when I heard she was going to join this school, I must admit I never saw her as a hero.

And she didn’t look strong physically. 

Now Akko, I could see she had a toned body, so I assumed she trained very hard to be here. I crossed my arms, frowning.

“Hah, don’t worry.” I looked behind me. That was Amanda O’Neill, the girl with the super-speed. “She can handle it. Right, Jas?”

A pink-haired girl beside her nodded.

“Soooo…” Atsuko started. “Should we… start?” She awkwardly got into a fighting position.

Constanze nodded, then stepped back, taking off her gloves and jacket.

And that was the moment everybody in the whole class, that not including Amanda and the other girl, gasped in unison. Constanze’s arms were completely robotic, dyed in various types of orange and in silver. I should've known she had something up her sleeve; She's her father's daughter after all. However, I did not know she had lost her arms.

I don't think anybody - besides her teammates and her father - knew until this moment.

Atsuko actually looked terrified by that.

The shorter girl closed her eyes and seemed to be concentrating; that’s when her metalic arms lit up in bright red, resembling a volcano in eruption. ‘She was charging up’ I thought. ‘I can see smoke coming from her arms.' I bit my lower lip, watching the blue-haired girl carefully. 'Atsuko's in trouble.'

I could see the air between them getting more and more intense as Atsuko clenched her fists tighter and looked for something in Constanze. A weak-spot, maybe? I knew she was physically strong just from looking at her body, but was it enough to tolerate the heat coming from Constanze that, by the way, I could feel it from where I was? 

When Atsuko noticed that Constanze didn't explicitly show any weaknesses, she took a step back. I could see the fire burning in her eyes as her offensive position turned into a defensive one. She must have noticed it would be better if she focused on defending herself rather than attacking her opponent directly. 'She's smart.' I brought my hand up to my chin, analyzing Constanze's fighting-style. It was defensive, much like Atsuko's; And I also couldn't find any weak spots, at that. She must have trained very hard for having such an impressive stance. I may at least admit I'm good at analyzing fighting-styles and even then I could not find an opening.

"Good luck." Atsuko said, looking at Constanze. 

'Considerate of you,' I thought. 'But I think you're the one that's going to need luck.'

"Start!" the professor shouted.

I watched them move towards each other very slowly and carefully, though they never abandoned their defensive stances. Atsuko's eyes were moving rapidly, still trying to find a weak spot. As for Constanze, she seemed to have already found Atsuko's.

Both of her fists were focusing on protecting her face. It was a very common problem between amateurs; forgetting to protect their torso, which could be fatal if she was in a deathmatch. 

'She needs to protect her torso…' I thought to myself, biting my lower lip. I wanted to scream and warn Atsuko. But I couldn't. That match was between them and them only.

Constanze approached Atsuko, delivering a side blow to her ribs. The brunette could see right through her movements, however, taking a quick step back and dodging her punch. Atsuko quickly noticed the great opening Constanze left when missing the punch and went for it, punching the shorter girl in the face.

Constanze staggered backwards, shaking her head. It looked like she almost lost her conscious there. That's when I realized:

Her resistance was way lower than normal. That was her weakness.

I should have thought about that. Her body was smaller and skinnier than usual, so it was expected from her to have a low resistance.

'...did Atsuko notice that before me?' I could see it from her face. It was still serious, focused, like she knew it from the beginning. She certainly knew exactly what she was doing. I didn't even realize I was giving the brunette a proud smile. 'this girl…'

'this girl is our future.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Since I jumped a lot of peoples’ demonstrations {it was going to take a LOT, so I showed the most important ones} I will make a list with everyone I left out in here. I also included who did show up to explain it better.}
> 
> Name: Lotte Yanson.
> 
> Special perk: Can turn her body into a weird type of “blue fire”. Instead of burning things, it freezes everything she touches.
> 
> consequence: her skin can get burned from the extreme cold if she uses it for more than 30 minutes.
> 
> Current control: partial
> 
> Name: Sucy Manbavaran
> 
> Special perk: her body is entirely made of all kind of toxins and her blood from poison; so she can easily poison and intoxicate anyone. But that requires any kind of mouth touch (biting, licking or even kissing). She can also extract the poison (blood) from her body and easily manipulate it. That also makes her immune to any kind com intoxication and poisoning.
> 
> consequence: if she gets badly hurt, she’s pretty much fucked, since her blood is made of poison and is extremely dangerous to touch it. Healing powers may work, but it’s still dangerous if the healer ends up touching her blood.
> 
> Current control: absolute
> 
> Name: Jasminka Antonenko
> 
> Special perk: She can turn herself into a giant gum (she pretty much looks like majin boo). That makes her almost immune to physical attacks, and since her body is so malleable, it can pretty easily regenerate itself from cuts and wounds and general. She is also very sticky.
> 
> consequence: SHE CAN’T EAT ANYTHING WHILE IN THIS FORM AND THAT MAKES HER FRUSTRATED
> 
> Current control: partial
> 
> Name: Hannah England
> 
> Special Perk: can control, generate and even turn herself into electricity. However, if she does turn into it, she can only move through electrical wires.
> 
> consequence: Using it frequently can damage her pretty badly.
> 
> Current control: partial
> 
> Name: Barbara Parker
> 
> Special perk: She is literally a being made of shadows. She can control them however she wants it and is stronger at night. 
> 
> consequence: She may never be able to fully control it, since it’s literally darkness and sometimes it makes her lose control. Barbara is also way weaker in the light.
> 
> Current control: almost null
> 
> Name: Amanda O’Neill
> 
> Special perk: She is fast. Like, really, REALLY fast.
> 
> consequence: she gets tired. like, really, REALLY tired. That’s also really fast. (x3 more than a normal person)
> 
> current control: almost absolute
> 
> Name: Diana “Elizabeth” Cavendish
> 
> Special perk: Can absorb energy from every living being in the planet, turning it into energy that pulse through her veins. That gives a boost in her strength, speed, resistance and it can even cure the people around her. (People that have powers like this are called NMI, or “Nontypical Multiperk Individual”. It’s almost impossible to be born with something like it.) 
> 
> Consequences: oh boi there are some. Her veins are totally exposed, for one. It literally hurts everytime she uses it. If Diana exaggerates in the amount of energy she is absorbing it can literally kill her if it gets to her neurons and her brain.
> 
> current control:???
> 
> bonus
> 
> Name: Atsuko Kagari
> 
> Special Perk: being a huge dork
> 
> consequence: is extremely gay
> 
> current control: absolute


	3. Not beneath anyone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko and Diana have a heart-to-heart talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!
> 
> So, I've been thinking in updating (or trying, at least) weekly. I think it would be easier for me than just update whenever I want.
> 
> I don't have much say about this one. It's a lot calmer than the last one.
> 
> Well, I hope you enjoy!

{Point of view - Narrator}

“CONSTANZE!” Amanda screamed as she saw her friend be punched in the face. “What the fuck, girl actually managed to touch Cons…” the tomboy actually looked incredibly shocked; as she certainly underestimated Atsuko Kagari’s abilities. Sucy felt a smirk come to her face when she saw the red/orange-haired girl so frustrated. Lotte, on the other hand, seemed excited and satisfied to see that her friend managed to give the first hit from the fight.

Jasminka simply ate her chips. She was anxious and Amanda could tell by the pace that her roommate brought the snacks to her mouth and from the worried look in her face. 

‘I-It was just one hit.’ Amanda thought to herself, finally calming down. ‘She can manage that.’

Constanze almost fell, but she was able to maintain her posture. She looked at Akko, bringing her defensive stance up again.

‘Shit, is she hurt?’ Akko asked herself in her mind. ‘Did I hit her too hard’? 

Akko got her answer when Constanze charged at her again; this time aiming to punch her face with her right robotic fist. The brunette noticed that; if she dodged it would leave an easy opening to her opponent to take the opportunity and hit her with her left fist, so she decided to take a risk and defend the girl’s punch with her forearm. 

The crimson-eyed girl flinched as she felt her skin burning from the intense heat that came from Constanze’s arms. It was clear that Constanze did her best to hold back, but she was out of control at this point. Akko was so focused on the pain in her forearm that she almost got hit in the ribs by the shorter girl’s free hand, but she managed to hold her hand just in time.

That resulted into more burned skin; Akko wanted to scream.

“Enough!” the Professor screamed and that caught Akko’s attention.

But the last thing she saw was Constanze’s fist coming towards her face.

Then she heard screams.

And everything went black.

\----

She woke up minutes after. The first thing she felt was an extreme pain in her nose. That made her sit up quickly and hold her now broken nose. She then found a man in front of her that apparently got a little startled by Akko’s sudden reaction. She moved away from him, a little creeped out. “OUCH OUCH OUCH!” .

“Calm down, girl. I’m trying to heal you!” The doctor warned her, looking at her nose. “It looks like she also burned the skin around your nose a little bit. I thought you said the girl that punched her was powerless?” He looked at professor Nelson, who was beside Akko with her arms crossed.

“Apparently she is, but she has robotic arms that are extremely hot. That’s what her roommate told me, at least.” Nelson shrugged.

“I didn’t know that was allowed…” Lotte said, interrupting them both.

“Pretty much everything is allowed here, let me tell ya.” She laughed. “Well, I need to talk to Finnelan. We will see what to do about the girl that broke Akko’s nose.”

“Hey,” Akko started. Her voice was a little muffled for she was still trying to stop the blood from coming out of her nose. “I don’t think she did this on purpose. Is this really a reason to punish her?”   
  
“We won’t punish her, I believe. But we still need to talk to her father. She did break your nose, after all.”

“That’s kinda unfair, but kay, sure.”

Nelson sighed, exiting the room and leaving the red team and the doctor by themselves. Akko was seemingly hesitating about letting him do the healing part, since she’s never been healed before and didn’t even know the guy that was doing it. ‘I mean’ She thought “Sure, he is the school's doctor and I doubt they would let in anyone that has bad intentions towards its students…’ 

“Akko.” Akko looked at Lotte and Sucy, who were sitting in separate chairs near the brunette. Lotte gave her the kindest smile she could and also noticed Sucy was also smiling a little bit. “It’s okay. He just wants to heal you. He already healed your burned skin.”

“Will there be any after effects?” Asked the short girl, looking at the man in front of her.

“You will probably feel tired. But that’s it.”

Still skeptical, Akko simply nodded. It did hurt a lot; It surely wasn’t the first time she broke something in her body, obviously, since she was a difficult kid. But she never broke her nose before and, boy, did it hurt. The doctor put his hand in front of Akko’s face and she noticed how a yellow glow came out of the palm of it, so she closed her eyes.

Eventually, she noticed her pain subsided and opened her eyes again. She looked fairly shocked at how she went from feeling a whole lot of pain to nothing.

“Wow! It really worked!” She said, smiling and touching her nose. 

The doctor chuckled. “Be careful, it might still hurt if you touch it too much.”   
  
“Sure! Arigato!!” Akko happily thanked him, getting up from the bed. “I think I’m all better now. Why don’t we go change? I’m sweaty!”

“Which is weird, the only thing you did was literally be punched in the face-” Sucy said and Lotte elbowed her in the ribs. “- You know I’m not lying.”

Akko rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. I doubt you’d do any better!” she crossed her arms, pouting. Lotte shared a laugh. They all exited the room then, immediately noticing Constanze, Jasminka and Amanda sitting on the outside.

“Oh, there’s our girl!” Amanda stood up.

“Hey!” Akko gently waved. “Why are you here?”   
  


“Cons wanted to apologize.” Amanda crouched close to the blue-haired girl, mumbling things like ‘It’s alright’ ‘she’ll forgive you’ and ‘we’re here with you’

She, then, got up from her chair and walked over to Akko. She looked very upset with her own actions, even if she was aware that she didn’t do it on purpose. Constanze just didn’t know what came over her; she doesn't like hurting people, let alone losing control of herself. She was new to this “hero stuff” and was worried that it was a bad first impression to the professor and her classmates, especially Akko and the rest of the red team.

The short girl gazed at her feet and opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She clenched her robotic fist, forcing herself to talk. The only thing that Akko could hear was a whispered, almost inaudible, ‘I apologize.’

The brunette stopped for a second. ‘Is she okay?’ Akko thought, staring at Constanze worriedly. She felt a slight pain in her chest by seeing the girl that looked so confident minutes ago looking so hurt and disappointed.

Akko smiled, grabbing Constanze’s hand. The girl watched her. “It’s okay. I know it was an accident.”

Constanze stared Akko with an… unreadable expression. She could see Constanze looking directly at her crimson eyes, begging for forgiveness. 

" 'Manda, I guess it's better if we take her to our room… you know how she gets when she hurts people." Jasminka, the pink-haired girl that had a package of doritos in her hands, said. 

Amanda let out a sigh, nodding and grabbing Contanze's right hand. "We should go, Cons. You can talk to her later."

Akko raised an eyebrow when she saw the blue-haired girl nod; her eyes on her feet again.

“Hey, uh, Akko, right?” Amanda looked at the girl.

“Yes?”

“the aristocrat asked me to give this to you when you wake up, and you’re on your feet right now, so.” Amanda got a paper out of her jacket’s pocket then handed out to Akko. 

“Oh, ah… Thanks, Amanda-chan!” 

“...chan? I thought only japanese people said that.” the girl snickered.

“I’m japanese, Amanda.” 

“Ah that makes sense.” She laughed, “Well, until we meet again. Which will probably be tomorrow. We all study here.” Amanda said, walking away with Jasminka and Constanze.

“So, what does it say?” Sucy asked

“Well, let’s see…” 

_ Atsuko, _

_ I’ll be waiting for you in the courtyard at 6pm. If you are feeling better, please come. I must talk to you. If you do decide to come find me, I ask of you to come alone. Thank you. _

_ -Diana _

Akko raised an eyebrow; Still very curious, she glanced at her friends, that seemed to be as confused as her. “What time is it?”   
  
Lotte looked at her cellphone. “5:40pm.”   
  
“What does she want with you?” Sucy asked.

“I… have no idea, actually.” She bit her lower lip. “Might as well go and find out, right?”

“We should really go with you. I don’t know if I trust this Cavendish girl.” Sucy crossed her arms.

“What? Why?” Akko looked at Lotte and Sucy, quite surprised. “She did nothing but treat us well in the time we were here!”   
  
“That’s the thing,” Sucy added. “We met her today.”

“I mean… Sucy isn’t… wrong? I know she looks like a good person, but…” Lotte shrugged, whispering “Did you see her...eyes?”   
  
Akko sighed, nodding. “There’s no sparkle in it. It’s almost like Sucy’s-”   
  
“But I chose not to have this ‘sparkle’ of yours. It doesn’t look like she did.” The purple-haired girl said.

Akko shook her head. “Well, she certainly is something though. With that perk of hers... “   
  
“Oh, she’s a NMI.” Lotte told.

  
“An enemy?” Akko and Sucy both said in unison.

“No, not an enemy. A NMI. A Nontypical Multiperk Individual. Those are… pretty rare. It basically means her perk has more than just one utility… Like, Diana gains resistance, strength, speed and from what I heard she can heal people. Four utilities in one. That makes her a NMI. But-”

“Oh... “ The brunette scratched the back of her head, interrupting Lotte’s explication. “That’s.. really badass.-”

“You didn’t let me finish, Akko.” Lotte continued, calmly.

“Ah, I’m, uh, sorry.”

“As I was saying, these kind of people are extremely rare. So rare that a lot of heroes in the world don’t even know they exist. I only know because my father used to work with one of them…” She pouted a little bit. “They were friends, kind of. The point is, from what he told my parents, this Multiperk thing usually comes from family heritance.”

“Oh!” Akko almost shouted. “Lotus had two perks! One of them was hidden by the media, though. But we do know she had another one that was different from healing.”

“So that explains a lot.” Lotte bit her cheek. “I guess you should be going. The courtyard is a bit far from here and It’s almost 5:50. Just, if anything happens, message us, okay?” 

  
“You really are the worried mom, Lotte!” Akko laughed, earning a sigh from Lotte. “Alright, mom. I’ll do that. Just promise Sucy won’t follow me.”   
  
“No.” Sucy walked away.

“I’m sorry, you know I can’t control her…” Lotte followed her. “ See you later, Akko.”

‘Yes you can!’ Akko thought, ‘and you know you have her wrapped around your finger!’ she laughed internally and then looked at the school map that was hanging on the wall.

The thing is, Sucy and Lotte have been friends for a long time. They met each other in club penguin when they were 9, and since then their relationship only grew. ‘they are in love with each other. It’s pretty obvious.’ Akko said to herself.

As for Akko, she is pretty much living with them. You see, they started living together when they both moved to New York, since it would be cheaper. Professor Ursula Callistis, having the knowledge that they were going to attend Luna Nova Academy as well, decided to ask them if they would be okay with a temporary teammate. They gladly accepted it (Well, Lotte gladly accepted it. Sucy, on the other hand, didn’t like the idea at first, but she accepted it anyway. Lotte really does have Sucy wrapped around her finger.)

She started living with them 2 months ago, that’s when she went from Yokohama to New York.

Akko already considered them both the sisters she never had.

The brunette smiled, but shook her head when she noticed her time was running out. She took a look at the school map and then nodded to herself, walking towards the courtyard. Her memory was surprisingly excellent; That’s why Luna Nova’s theoretical test was so easy for her. She  _ actually _ took her time to study. She is usually just lazy.

When she arrived at the place, it was… weirdly empty. The only person that Akko could see was Diana herself, sitting on the grass.  _ ‘Huh’ _ , Akko thought,  _ ‘She looks… relaxed.’ _

After a few second just watching the blonde, Akko decided to approach her. She was greeted with a surprised expression, a warm smile coming right after. 

“You actually decided to come. I must say I am flattered.” Diana said.

“O-Oh! yeah, um, I didn’t… have anything to do, anyway. Besides, you seem nice” Akko blushed a little. “Can I sit next to you?”

Diana chuckled. “You don’t need my permission to do that; the courtyard isn’t exactly a private place. But… yes, you may.” She said in a playful tone. Akko smiled, sitting next to the blonde girl.

“Sooo…” Akko mumbled, looking at her hands.

“You want to know why I called you here.”

“I mean… pretty much, yeah.”

Diana approached Akko a little more. That made the brunette blush even more. “Firstly, are you… okay? You looked badly hurt the last time I saw you. I found it would be a little intrusive and rude of me to just appear in your hospital room out of nowhere.”

“Y-yeah! I’m totally fine!” The shorter girl smiled brightly. “The doctor healed me, just warned me I should be more careful from now on. It is our first day, after all.”

“I understand. I was quite worried when you got hit. It’s good to see you are better, Ms. Kagari.” Diana told her. “As for why I called you, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Of course! What is it?”

“When we were in the training field, you said my mother… you said ‘Lotus’ saved you when you were little, but you… never got the chance to properly thank her.” Akko nodded. “Can I ask you what happened?”

“Oh, uh…” Akko lift her hand to her chin. “It was 10 years ago. I really wanted to be like Shiny Chariot-  _ Yeah, you know who.  _ The superhero that was considered the symbol of peace for all the awesome stuff she did. One day I was feeling lucky and jumped out of a building just to see if my superpower was being able to fly and well… as you can imagine, it was not.” Diana flinched. “Lotus basically saved me from falling to my death. Because I was certainly going to die that day, I can tell you for sure.”

“Hm. 10 years ago, you say?” Diana lift an eyebrow.

“Yep. I don’t really remember the exact date, I’m sorry.”

“Do not worry. That is enough. Thank you very much, Atsuko Kagari.”

“Akko.”

“What?” The blonde looked at Akko.

“Atsuko is… too long. It’s weird seeing people call me that if not for my okaasan when she’s really angry. Just call me Akko instead! It’s easier and cuter!” She gave Diana a toothily grin.

“Cuter?” Diana asked, amused.

  
“What? It is! Don’t you agree?” Akko gave her the cutest look in her arsenal.

“I…” The heir crossed her arms. ‘Why is she looking at me like that?’ It was like Akko was trying to control her mind. And she was succeeding. In a few seconds, Diana felt like she could melt just by looking at Atsuko’s puppy eyes. “I-I, well, I suppose it is adorable.”

“Yeah! Thanks! The puppy eyes always work!” She laughed victoriously.

“Is this your secret perk that you never told anyone? I felt useless against it.”

“You could say that, yeah! It’s completely ubeatable, believe me. Even okaasan gets weak around it!”

  
“I can see that, yes.” Diana chuckled. “I believe that’s the strongest perk I’ve ever seen. Quite impressive, Atsuk- Akko.”

Akko felt her face heat, but shared a closed smile and looked at the ground. “You know… I think we should talk more in the future. I know it’s just the first day of school, but… I noticed you are… really nice and kind.” the brunette gulped. “And I… do you want to… you know, hang out… someday…” Akko mentally slapped herself _. ‘oh just kill me already.’_

However, Diana’s reaction was pretty simple. She simply gave Akko a gentle smile and despite all the embarrassment Akko was going though in that moment, she didn’t seem to be offended at all.

“I would like to hang out with you, Akko. But why are you so _nervous_?"

And that question caught Akko.

_ Why was she nervous? _

“I, uh…” She thought for a second or two. “It’s just that… You’re perfect, from what I’ve seen from you and your, uh, you know, expectations are high. I’m just, huh, a nobody. You are basically talking to a nobody.” Akko scratched her own arm. “Just… some powerless girl that… wants to be a hero.” She gave Diana a sad chuckle.

“Why do you think that, Akko?

The brunette sighed. "It will be a little rude of me to say this this way but… you… you would never understand, Diana. You have this… awesome perk and you can literally change the whole world by snapping your fingers. That's… AMAZING! You know how rare people with more than 1 perk are? It's so rare that the scientists are still studying about you guys. As for me, Diana? I'm…" Akko felt her eyes tear up. "I'm a burden. I've always been useless and… so careless. My parents gave me… everything. The love I needed, the knowledge I wanted. But I still… I still got them into so much trouble because of how disastrous I am. Hell, I don't think I even deserve to be here… I just took someone else's place… I-" By this moment, Akko was a total mess. She was interrupted by an awkward hug from the girl that was sitting beside her. "I'm… I'm sorry, you shouldn't…"

"Shh…" She silenced the girl, hugging her tighter. "You are not beneath anyone just because you don't have a power, Akko. Get this thought out of your head."

"b-but… but you…"

"No. I'm not superior to anyone either. We're all normal people here, Akko, powerless or not. We're all… brothers and sisters, in a way or another. We are all friends." Diana caressed Akko's hair gently. "It's not because I have a power and you do not that you are beneath me. If anything, I can bet you could beat me in a spar match right now. I saw your muscles." They both chuckled.

"Why… why are you doing this? you don't even… know me…" Akko hid her face in Diana's shoulder.

"I… got it from my mother, I suppose." She smiled. "There was a time that it wasn't like this. When she and my father passed away… in the very same day, my 7th birthday. I hid from the world. I was scared. I was in the bottom of the well."

Akko sobbed. "And… and what made you get back up again?"

"Me. I got back up, despite my Aunt's and Cousins' protests, and stood strong. I learned something they didn't know; You know what that is?" Diana pulled Akko from her hug a little bit, just so she could look at her bright red eyes.

"What?"

Diana smiled. "To care. To love. To desire nothing but the other's happiness. It may sound… cheesy, as per say. But I wouldn't be who I am today if it weren't for the staff that works in my house, especially Anna and Timothy, Hannah and Barbara. I can see it in you, Atsuko… I can see that sparkle. The same sparkle a lot of professional heroes have in their eyes; My mother had it, Shiny Chariot had it, hell, even professor Finnelan has it, even if it's hidden away. You have that. Use it in your favor. Use it before that sparkle fades away and disappears into thin air. It… happened to a lot of people already." Her smile saddened, but it didn't disappear.

Akko kept herself quiet for a minute, but hugged Diana again right after.

"Akko?"

"Thank you." The brunette simply said, still sobbing a little bit. 

"You…" She finally retrieved the hug, wrapping her arms around the shorter girl. "You are welcome. It's always a pleasure to help a friend."

"...Yeah…"

They stayed there for a moment. They lost track of time, although it was already getting dark, so Diana presumed they spent at least one hour or so talking. She didn't have any regrets.

"Akko, it is getting dark. I guess we should part ways. Your teammates are waiting for you, I presume."

"I-I guess you're right." Akko pulled away from the hug- A hug that she swear she's been in for an eternity. She wished she could spend more time there, but… no, no. Her friends were waiting for her and she knew how Lotte would get if she came back before 7:30. "Your friends are probably waiting for you too."

"Barbara and Hannah went shopping. They are bringing dinner." Diana smiled. "But they will be back soon." The blonde stood up, putting her hand in her pockets.

Akko got up as well. She still had this shy smile in her lips. 

"Before you go, Akko." Diana started,

"Hm?"

The taller girl put one of her hands on Akko's shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. "Remember: You are not beneath anyone. You are independent and strong. If anyone ever tells you otherwise, you… punch them in the face, because they are wrong."

Akko laughed.

"Is that your answer for everything? punching people in the face?"

"No, actually I'm usually a pacifist. But sometimes I really just want to punch the people I hate in the face. You should think about it, it's as relaxing as drinking tea on a rainy day."

"I'll do that." the brunette added, "Thanks for everything, Diana. I can't express my gratitude."

"You don't need to." She smiled. "Now you better get going. I can imagine how scary ms. Yanson can get."

"Yeah, heheh, she's the worried mom of the group." Akko waved at Diana. "Bye, Diana! See you tomorrow!"

Diana waved back. 

"Puppy eyes, eh?" She laughed to herself. "What an incredible power."

  
  



	4. New ¿¿Friends??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Diana confirms Hannah and Barbara are the absolute best friends she could ask for/ Akko, Lotte and Sucy hang out with Amanda, Jasminka and Constanze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there!
> 
> As I said, I plan on posting weekly!
> 
> So, I'm out of town and maybe I'll be a little late with the next chapter. This one is really calm, I just wanted to explore the characters' relationship with one another and all. 
> 
> I don't have a lot to say, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy this one!
> 
> As always, leave a comment if you have suggestions or if you spotted any typos, please. I'm new in this area and this isn't even my native language.

**_{Point of view - Narrator}_ **

When Diana opened her eyes, she saw herself in an unusual place. The grass beneath her feet was black, as if it were recently burned and the sky was red; she could see both the sun and the moon in different sides of the reddish skies. 

'What is this?' She asked herself, looking around to see if she could find someone there with her. But apparently the only person there was Diana herself.

She looked down, staring at her clothes. She was wearing her usual blue nightgown.

_ If I’m wearing this right now,  _ she thought,  _ this must be a dream. Or rather, a nightmare. _

Diana sighed. A long time ago, she came to the conclusion that her subconscious had deprived her of having anything but nightmares since her parents’ passing.

She noticed something-  _ someone _ coming out of the ground a few feet in front of her. Narrowing her eyes to try to see it better, the only thing she saw was a humanoid figure with its body composed by shadows and only shadows. When Diana tried to approach it, the “black thing” opened its red glowing eyes and before she could do anything, it grabbed her from her neck, lifting her from the ground. 

The humanoid figure put a devilish smile on its face; which gave Diana chills. The blonde girl was struggling to keep her consciousness; using everything she had,  _ all the strength she had. _

_  
_ “L-let… go… of… me!” With difficulties, she tried holding the thing’s arms but it was completely ineffective.  _ It _ attended her wishes, throwing her harshly at the ground. She growled, feeling like her ribs have broken.

_ I am not his devil anymore. _

Before she could do anything, the black thing penetrated her body; she could see her veins popping out, like they do when she uses her perk, but… they were completely black. 

Diana could feel blood filling her lungs. Desperate, she harshly coughed, then realizing her  _ blood had also turned black. _

This pain… she never felt it before. It was worse than everything she ever experienced.  _ It _ was eating her from the inside.

There was no escape.

_ We are the very same. _ _  
_ _  
_ **\- / - / - / -**

“- _ ANA! DIANA! WAKE UP! _ ” The heiress could feel hands on her shoulder as she heard two rather  _ familiar _ voices wake her up from her terrible nightmare. 

Diana opened her eyes, immediately facing her two roommates, that had terrified semblances on their faces. The blonde was breathing heavily and she quickly felt tears coming down her face.  _ She had been crying during her nightmare. _

When she sat up, both girls surprised her with tight embraces. “Girls…?” She asked.

“Oh my gosh! What happened?!” Hannah’s voice was certainly… troubled. Scared, even. 

  
“I-I…” before she could say anything, she heard Barbara sob.

“W-Was it _the_ _nightmare_ again?” the black-haired girl silently whispered; Diana felt Hannah’s hug get even tighter.

Nevertheless, she remained silent as she looked at her childhood friends. They already knew the answer.

“My god, Diana…” Barbara murmured, brushing off her own tears. “This… this can’t… This can’t continue!”

“Barb, Han, I can assure you, I am completely fine. These are just petty nightmares-”   
  
“THAT YOU HAVE HAD FOR 10 YEARS STRAIGHT!” Hannah pulled Diana off her embrace. “You can’t continue living like this! Everytime it gets worse! These ‘petty nightmares’ are leaving their damage on you, Diana!”

“They do not harm me. I’m okay.” She whispered, although she  _ knew _ the opposite was true. She refused to admit it, however.

“Stop being so fucking stubborn!” Barbara yelled, covering her face with her hands. “You need to seek help!”

“But-”   
  
“No! There’s no fucking ‘buts’ this time!” Hannah angrily stood up from Diana’s bed. “We’re worried, Diana. We are WORRIED about you. We have always been, and you KNOW these nightmares keep getting worse every night!”

“But they are still harmless-”   
  
“YOU TRIED TO HURT YOURSELF LAST WEEK WHILE YOU SLEPT, DIANA!” Barbara yelled, again. “It’s not harmless! It’s never been harmless! Physical harm is not the only type of damage and you better than anyone should know that!”

Diana bit her lower lip. She did not want to argue with her friends anymore.  _ She knew they were right, but she did not want to face the truth. _

_ That she needed help. _

She know she has her friends there with here. Barbara and Hannah have always been faithful and loyal as her friends; they’ve  _ always _ been there. They gave her all the aid they could give, but they were students, they were  _ teenagers _ , not psychologists.

**‘** We are all teenagers.’ Diana reminded herself. She sighed.

“Diana, I know you have pride as a Cavendish, but please,  _ please _ get professional help.” Hannah grabbed her friend’s hand. “You may be a Cavendish. You may be Bernadette’s daughter. Lotus’ daughter. Hell, you may even be the  _ future of our fucking world _ , for all I care. You are my friend. You are our friend. And we are tired of seeing you suffer like this.” And just like that, Hannah’s tears were rolling down her face again. Barbara’s as well.

Even Diana’s.

“You’ve waited long enough. You’ve shown us how strong you are. You are the strongest person I know. And I don’t mean physically- Well, physically too, I guess.” Hannah chuckled. “-but mentally. I don’t… I don’t know how you do it. The thing is, seeking help won’t make you weaker. It will show us you are even stronger by having the courage to admit that you,  _ the mighty Diana Elizabeth Cavendish, _ have your own weaknesses as well.” 

Diana’s lips trembled, turning upwards for a moment. The smile was cut short.  _ The next sentence broke her. _

_ “We don’t want to lose you as well.” _

Diana opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She quickly glanced at Barbara just to be presented with her friend with her arms crossed and her eyes looking at her own feet. She was also crying.

_ Guilt.  _

She could feel it coming from Barbara.

“Barb…” Diana murmured. The black-haired weakly turned her glance at her two friends; Diana’s lips were turned upwards. Barbara almost broke when Diana opened her hug for her to join in.

She went for it.

‘I’m so lucky to have you both…’ the blonde said to herself.

_ The luckiest of the lucky. _

**\- / - / - / -**

  
  


**_Tuesday - 1:30pm. Lunch break._ **

“Why is it soooo boring?!?!” Akko growled, boringly looking at her food. “It’s almost… UNBEARABLE! What the heck, how can people even like this?!”

“Is she talking about the food or our classes?” Lotte whispered to Sucy, who shrugged.

“Both, I guess.” The purple-haired girl said.

“This is literally 100% made of POTATOES! There’s not even rice in here! Instead of rice they put mashed potatoes! who does that?!?!” The outraged Kagari screamed.  _ Oh yes,  _ she was drawing a lot of attention. “Kusooooo!” She looked as if she was going to pull her hair out.

“You are acting like it’s the end of the world. It’s just for lunch, you know, we can eat whatever we want after class. You're so overly-dramatic.” Sucy said, eating her mashed potatoes.

“Now now, don’t be mean to Akko, Sucy.” Lotte smiled. “You know she likes to be the center of attention.”   
  
“HEY! I DO NOT! WHY ARE YOU TAKING HER SIDE?” The brunette crossed her arms, pouting.

“Firstly, I’m taking no one’s side. Secondly, everyone is looking at you, Akko.” 

Akko looked around her.  _ Lotte wasn't lying. _ People really were looking at her. The brunette blushed.

"You are such a mess…" Sucy snickered, looking at her short friend. Akko had her arms crossed with an embarrassed face.

Meanwhile, the taller girl with red hair and green eyes watched the red team with a confused look on her face. Her teammates, Jasminka and Constanze, were sitting right beside her.

“This Akko girl is kinda weird, don’t you think?” Amanda murmured. Constanze looked away, remaining quiet.

“She looks cool” Jasminka responded, eating her potato chips instead of the actual food that the cafeteria offered. “I mean, from what we’ve seen at least. Isn’t that right, Cons?” The pink-haired girl asked the shorter one.

Constanze only sighed, shrugging; It looked like she was trying to avoid even making eye contact with Akko. She was ashamed of what she’s done yesterday, maybe? Amanda crossed her arms, looking at her troubled friend. She and Jasminka shared a worried look.

“Constanze,” Jasminka called her, “Try to not think about it. It was an accident, honey…”

Constanze didn’t react immediately, but only nodded in response.

“Hey, look.” Amanda reached out to grab Constanze’s hand. “You wanna make up to her?”

The blue-haired girl didn’t even answer. The only thing Amanda needed it to confirm her theory was the look in her eyes; those expressed nothing but regret and sorrow. Amanda only smiled, getting up from her chair. 

“Well then!” Amanda said, smiling bright. Jasminka and Constanze looked confused. “Leave it all to me.”

Then she happily walked over to where Akko and her teammates were sitting. Sucy and Lotte noticed her before Akko herself, who was too concentrated on her food.

“Hey!” Amanda gave Akko a slap on her back. That made the brunette flinch and drop her fork on her mashed potatoes.

“WHAT” she angrily looked at the taller girl. “YOU DESTROYED MY MASHED POTATOES”   
  
“What? You only dropped your fork in it. It’s completely edible.” Amanda raised an eyebrow. That seemed to only make Akko angrier.

“Don’t try to understand,” Sucy added “Akko is weird.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, I noticed that.” Amanda chuckled, sitting beside Akko. The three girls shared a perplexed look. “Sorry, I don’t think I even introduced myself to you. Name’s Amanda O’Neill, it’s a pleasure!” She smiled.

“Lotte Yanson.” Lotte answered, smiling. Sucy remained quiet, seemingly disinterested in responding and Lotte rolled her eyes. “And this is our roommate, Sucy Manbavaran. The pleasure is ours.”

_ "not mine"  _ Sucy whisperer, but apparently no one heard her.

“You already know me, technically.” Akko said, getting her fork out of her mashed potatoes. She looked a little disappointed, but she clearly wasn’t angry anymore. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Amanda laughed. “Oof, sorry for the fork though. I really didn’t mean to.”

“All good.” Akko shrugged. “I’m not even hungry anymore, so whatever.” the girl sighed. “Did you want to talk about something in specific? it would be kinda weird if you just came here to hang out out of nowhere.”

“Ah, yeah, right.” Amanda smiled. “I actually wanted to ask if you want to hang out with us after school. You and your team look like cool people, and plus, Constanze really wants to give you proper apologies, Akko.”

Akko perked her head up at that. “Constanze? But she already apologized…” She scratched her chin. “But yeah, ok. Is that alright with you?” Akko looked at her roomates.

“I don’t see why not!” Lotte smiled. Sucy raised an eyebrow, staring at Lotte.

“I thought you were going to help me with my mushrooms…” Sucy said. Lotte noticed a bit of sadness in her voice, which she apparently was the only one to notice. She smiled at her strange friend.

“Don’t worry, we can go with them and have a little fun, then later I’ll help you with your mushrooms!” Lotte said. “How does that sound?”

Sucy remained quiet for a moment, but gave a little sigh, nodding. “It makes sense, I guess.” 

_ ‘I just want to spend some time alone with you. Is that too much to ask?’  _ Sucy thought. Lotte frowned at her friend’s expression, but didn’t say anything about it.

“Is it confirmed, then? How about we meet at the Central Park at 4pm? Classes end at 3 anyway.” Amanda smiled.

“It’s perfect! Arigatou for inviting us!” Akko gave her a big thumbs up and earned a chuckle.

“So I’ll be leaving now. Jas and Cons are probably asking theirselves what I'm doin' here. I kinda left without explaining my plan to them." She laughed. "See ya’ll later!” Amanda turned away from the red team, walking towards her teammates again.

Sucy watched as Amanda walked away, a little disappointed that her alone time with Lotte would be shortened. ‘ _ Well, there’s nothing I can do about it…’  _ She thought, then went back to eating her lunch.

Lotte remained silent as she watched Sucy eat her food with that sad expression (that was really rare) on her face. ‘ _ She wanted me to help her with her mushrooms that much?’  _ Lotte asked herself, scratching her arm, then looked away from her childhood friend.

Akko watched them both as they awkwardly stayed silent for a minute.

_Huh._ She internally chuckled. _These two are really gay for each other._ _How come they didn’t notice that until now?_

“Oh, Akko!” Lotte called her loudly, as if she remembered something important. “What did you talk about with Diana yesterday? If it’s not too personal. She didn’t do anything bad to you, did she?”

Akko blushed a little bit, but smiled. “What? Of course not. We only talked about some things about Lotus and she gave me a little bit of encouragement about turning into a hero in the future.” The brunette raised an eyebrow. “What did you think she was going to do anyway?”   
  


Lotte shrugged. “She’s… fine. It was just weird that she wanted to talk to you out of nowhere.”   
  


_ ‘Out of nowhere?’  _ Akko asked herself, then remembered. ‘ _ Oh, they probably didn’t hear me saying those things about Lotus yesterday since they were still waiting for Nelson-sensei to call their names.Yeah, that makes sense.’  _ She nodded to herself.

“It was kinda weird, but from what I’ve seen of her she looks like a good person.” The moment she said that, her mind was flooded by images of Diana and her talking at the courtyard yesterday. She smiled. “Incredible, even. Kuso, I hope I can get to know her more.”

“Her perk is pretty powerful too, so that’s really awesome!” Lotte added, with a smile on her face.

Sucy narrowed her brows. “I still don’t fully trust her but ‘kay, sure.”

“Why not?” Akko crossed her arms.

“Eh,” Sucy started. “I dunno. She’s just weird. Instinct, I guess. Whatever.” 

Akko pouted, asking herself about what Sucy meant about that.  _ ‘It’s probably nothing.’  _ She thought.  _ ‘It’s probably because Diana’s first impression wasn’t really good. Yeah, probably. Sucy really judges people from their first impression. It took a while for her to like me since the first thing I did when I came to live in their apartment was break her laptop.’  _ Akko snickered as she remembered, but shook her head.

“Speaking of the devil.” Sucy murmured when she saw Diana entering the cafeteria with Hannah and Barbara.

Diana looked… exhausted. As if she hadn’t had any sleep at all last night. Her hair was a bit messy and she had bags under her eyes. Akko took a look at Diana’s teammates, realising they seemed to be rather worried about their friend.

“Doesn’t she look a little tired?” Lotte whispered. Sucy didn’t seem to care at all.

"...Yeah…" Akko murmured. “She… does.” The brunette raised an eyebrow.

_ ‘Weird.’  _ She thought.

**_\- / - / - / -_ **

“You should get some sleep after class, Diana.” Barbara sat beside Hannah at the cafeteria’s table. “You were barely able to stay awake until now…” 

“It is alright.” Diana gave her friends a reassuring smile. “I am fine. I must admit I’m flattered to see how worried you are about me, but seriously, there is no need.”

  
“Of course we are worried, you are our friend… Our sister, almost!” Hannah said, enthusiastically. She looked at Barbara right after. “Do you know if we have classes with professor Nelson today? It would be unfortunate if Diana had to tire herself more than she already has.”

“I don’t think so. Also, If I remember correctly, professor Finnelan said yesterday that professor Nelson wasn’t the only professor that would work with something more physical than theoretical. I don’t remember if she said the names of the other professors, though.”

Hannah sighed, a little disappointed. “Are you sure you don’t want to rest a little bit more, Dia? I’m sure we can talk to the professors about it.”

Diana narrowed her brows. “That’s nonsense. Classes started yesterday. What kind of student would I be if I missed class just because I’m a little tired?” She crossed her arms. “I appreciate this, girls, but as much as I’m thankful, I will politely decline your offer. I’m completely fine.”

_ “That’s what you always say…” _ Barbara murmured.

“If you say so…” Her auburn-haired friend rolled her eyes slightly.  _ On the inside, Diana knew they were only worried about her. _

As Diana grew up, she could notice how her best friends acted when they were nervous, angry or even sad. For example, how Barbara curls her hair around her finger when she’s too nervous, or how little bolts of electricity are visible in the corner of Hannah’s eyes when she gets angry, which was currently the case, so she was definitely upset with Diana. The blonde chuckled, scratching the back of her neck.

“Are you angry at me?” Diana asked.

“No.” Hannah whispered, but she didn’t even look at Diana as the bolts of her eyes got even thicker. 

“Han,” Barbara murmured. Hannah looked at her black-haired partner. “Bolts.”

Hannah blushed, closing her eyes. “I-I’m not angry, ok? Just disappointed. When we discovered Headmistress Holbrooke invited us to study here at Luna Nova, you promised us you would take better care of yourself-”

Diana interrupted her “I didn’t break my promise, I am not doing anything reckless. And, besides,” She smiled. “I’d rather spend the day with you both than on a bed, in a boring room, while trying to- hopelessly, You know how I can barely sleep in the afternoon- sleep. I may be tired, but I can still… how you would say, kick a few butts, mind you.” Diana said, and watched as Barbara burst into laughter and Hannah tried to hold hers too. She gave them a victorious smirk.

“Fine, whatever” When Hannah opened her eyes again, the bolts of electricity weren’t there anymore, even if she was still pretending to be mad.  _ ‘Checkmate.’  _ Diana thought.

“Dia,” Barbara called, earning a curious look from Diana. “Did you talk to your aunt about your uniform?”

Diana only blushed.

“Oh shit. You didn’t talk to her, did you?” Her black-haired friend crossed her arms.

The heiress remained silent.

Hannah gave herself a facepalm.

Barbara pinched the bridge of her nose. 

Then they heard the bell ring.

“You’re hopeless.” Barbara stood up from her chair. She actually had a hidden grin on her face. 

“Everything is hopeless when we’re talking about Diana’s relationship with aunt Daryl.” Hannah sighed, also getting up.

Diana smiled.

“You know me.”

_ You know me better than anyone else. _

Diana Elizabeth Cavendish; Perfect in front of the eyes of those who don't know her. She's an example that even royalty should follow, and of course, everybody wants her, despite their genders!

And a complete and utter  _ mess  _ when alone with her friends.

**_\- / - / - / -_ **

  
  


**_Tuesday - 4:20pm - After classes (Central Park)_ **

"Waaah, it's so good to get out of the uniform for a while!" Akko happily said. She was wearing a white t-shirt with a stamp of Shiny Chariot in the center of it. A blue skirt that was rather… short. It barely covered any skin at all, and even if Lotte insisted nonstop that she should wear something less revealing, Akko chose to wear it anyway. On top of it, she was wearing a black leather-jacket.

"We don't even spend that much time wearing our uniforms." Sucy answered with a raised eyebrow. The strange girl chose something simple (typical of her) to wear; A blue flannel shirt and black jeans.  _ Even if it was really hard to actually get her to wear something that wasn't the school's uniform.  _

Lotte chuckled. "You look very nice, Sucy." she quietly said; as for Lotte, she was wearing a pain blue dress and was hanging a brown purse on her shoulder.

Sucy hid a blush behind her hair. "Thanks. You too."

"Why don't I get a compliment?!" Akko pouted.

"You are looking very good yourself, Akko.  _ Although I still don't think that skirt was a good idea… _ " She kinda-sorta whispered the last part, but Akko heard it and stuck her tongue out in a playful manner.

"Your just jealous that my legs are all toned up and yours are not!" Akko crossed her arms, laughing. Lotte rolled her eyes, but maintained a smile on her face.

"I swear I WILL freeze your toes while you are asleep." Lotte said between chuckles.

Akko's eyes widened. "You wouldn't! You know my worst nightmare is having my toes frozen!"

"She totally would." Sucy murmured.

"I totally would. Now stop that." Lotte repeated.

"Humph!" Akko buffed.

They have been walking for the past 30 minutes now, looking for Amanda and her team at the Central Park. Akko even stopped to buy a hot dog (Lotte and Sucy declined), stating she was hungry.

"Why are they taking so long?" Akko asked, eating her hot dog.

Sucy shrugged. "Maybe they forgot?" 

"I kinda doubt it. They invited us" The brunette responded, sitting on a bench.

Lotte sat beside Akko, scratching her chin. "I think they're just late. It's completely normal."

Sucy, however, decided to not sit, but to lean on the back of the bench, beside Lotte. "We'll just have to wait for them."

"No need!" A enthusiastic voice said loudly. 

"Amanda!" Akko called as she saw her classmates with her friends.

"Oi!" Amanda walked towards the red team, with her hands in her pockets. 

Constanze calmly waved and Jasminka smiled, as always, eating her potato chips. 

"Huwwo" Jasminka greeted- or attempted to greet, her mouth was full- Lotte, Sucy and Akko.

"Huwwo for you too!" fortunately (or unfortunately), Akko's mouth was also full.

"Sorry we kept you waiting. Jas was having lunch." Amanda scratched her chin.

"Lunch? it's 4pm…" Sucy said, confused.

"Don't question it. Jas has lunch when she wants to, where she wants to." The tall girl shrugged. Constanze gave a thumbs up.

"Oooo...kay." The purple-haired girl looked away.

"So!" After finishing her hotdog, the red-eyed brunette fiercely stood up, stretching her arms. "Let's introduce ourselves properly. Outside school walls, I mean. Name's Atsuko Kagari! I'm 17, from Japan, and as you already know, I'm powerless. But I can kick a couple of asses if I need to!"

"Hello everyone," the young Yanson said with a gentle smile upon her face. "My name is Lotte Yanson, I'm 17… and a half. I was born and lived my whole life in Finland, but two months ago Sucy and I came to live here so we could attend Luna Nova Academy. I can turn my body into fire," The girl said, raising up her finger to demonstrate her power. Suddenly, her index was completely turned into some kind of blue fire. Akko gasped.  _ She still didn't physically see Lotte's power.  _ "But it's not any kind of fire, thus it cannot burn anything or anyone." She crouched and picked up a leaf from the ground, putting it above the blue fire. The leaf froze completely, disintegrating right after for the leaf was too sensitive.

"LOTTE" Akko yelled, Lotte jumped. "THAT IS ABSOLUTELY  _ AMAZING _ "

"You're exaggerating." Yanson blushed, looking away.

"It is pretty cool." Sucy murmured; That made Lotte blush even more, hiding her face behind her short hair.

"What 'bout you? You don't seem to talk a lot." Amanda looked at Sucy.

"Sucy Manbavaran, 18, came from the Philippines. I am a living toxin." She said coldly.

Amanda raised an eyebrow. "Nothing more to say?"

"No"

"She is actually a sweetheart but refuses to explicitly show it" Akko added.

"what" Sucy murmured

"Sucy is totally adorable and becomes nothing but lovely when you get to know her. Last month we went to an amusement park;; I really wanted this panda plushie but I just couldn't win the game. So while I wasn't watching she went there and-" Lotte was interrupted by a very angry Sucy blocking her mouth.

"We got it. let's move on." She strange girl murmured, earning a giggle from Lotte.

_ 'These two are so cute together…'  _ Akko thought, smiling at her two friends.

Amanda raised her hand. "It's me, my turn. I wanna talk." The girl said in a playful tone "Amanda O'Neill, my pleasure. I'm 17, but mentally I'm pretty much a 4 year-old adult." Akko chuckled at that. "I'm from here! America. I'm as fast as a racing car and that's my perk, but I'm not nearly at my full potential yet. Just like dad, when I grow up I'll be faster than the sound." She gave them a confident smirk. She then stretched and disappeared for two or three second, and when she re appeared she was holding a bottle of water. "It's the basic," Amanda opened the bottle, drinking it. "I'm fast, you're all slow."

"Show-off." Akko murmured.

"Huwwo again" Jasminka waved. "My name is Jasminka, but you can call me Jasna if you want to. That's what my mother always calls me." She smiled. "I am 18. Mother Russia is my home country, but I moved to New York when I was very young with my parents and my little brother. I can't explain my perk properly, so I think I can show it to you." The pink-haired girl extended her arm, still smiling. Slowly, the girl's arm started having a weird malleable, sticky and jelly texture. Then she brought it in front of her face

and ate her hand.

Everyone in the red team stared quietly.

But they sighed in relief when the gum simply re-made her hand. "I'm a giant gum!"

"That's… definitely different from everything I've seen until now…" Lotte whispered.

"It looks weird when she just says it like that, but believe me, this one is pretty useful. She can even dodge bullets with it." Amanda pointed out.

"It's really cool!" Akko's eyes sparkled.

Here's the thing, Akko really loves meeting people with superpowers. Or rather, she loves seeing their special perks; how different they are from one another. As a kid that grew up wanting to be a hero, she've seen all kinds of superpowers on the media, internet, newspapers. She thought that even if she didn't have any superpowers, studying them would be useful in the future. Learning what her opponent could do before acting was crucial in her opinion.

"And this" Amanda put her hand on Constanze's head. "Is Constanze. Her name is really big. She really hates talking, so I'll introduce her to you. She's… 17, almost 18. She was born in Germany but moved here with her father two years ago, right Cons?" The little one nodded. "Her dad is loooooaded. He's a renowned engineer. Despite that, Cons says he's really supportive of her ideals, even if he disagrees with her wanting to turn into a hero."

"Was your dad the one who built your arms?" Akko asked. Constanze shook her head. "Who did then?"

The blue-haired girl pointed at herself. Akko widened her eyes. "YOU DID?"

"Excuse me, how old did you say you were again?" Lotte asked

"17" Amanda repeated. "Told ya this girl's a beast. She told us she built it when she was 11, but yeah, her father helped a lil' bit. She got the brains." 

Akko looked at her with fascination.

_ 'Someone… without a power. And is that awesome. Huh…'  _

"Now that introductions are over, why don't we walk around the park while we talk about ourselves for a little bit?" Amanda proposed.

**_\- / - / - / -_ **

**_Tuesday - 4:30 pm - After classes. (Shopping)_ **

"What do you think about this one?" Hannah asked, wearing a red knee length dress. Barbara was also trying some dresses, but Diana was simply sitting and looking through her phone while waiting for her friends. 

She looked up to see Hannah's dress, smiling afterwards. "It looks great on you, Han. I think you should buy it"

"Really?" She auburn-haired girl blushed a little, looking at herself in the mirror.

"Really." Diana confirmed.

"Girls, with or without ruffles?" Barbara approached them, holding two dresses

"With ruffles would look good on you." Diana gave a thumbs up.

Hannah and Barbara looked at eachother, then looking at Diana with a mischievous smile on their faces.

"What?" The blonde asked, confused.

"Why don't we look for something for Diana together, Hannah?" 

"We definitely should, Barbara!"

"Uuh…" Diana blushed. "Sorry girls, but I don't like to wear dresses if I don't absolutely have to. Living with my aunt had its downsides; I had to wear dresses everyday and that was quite uncomfortable."

"We never said we were going to look for a dress." Hannah's smile got even wider.

"Huh?" Diana raised an eyebrow before both her friends pulled her out of her chair and interlaced their arms with her. "What are you doing?"

"You'll see!" Barbara smiled.

_ I am scared. _

**_\- / - / - / -_ **

"I… Are you sure this is a good idea?" Diana said, in the changing room.

"Yes! A wonderful idea, even! Now come out of there and let us see you!" Barbara yelled.

Diana sighed, coming out with a blush on her face. She was wearing a stylish indigo blue tuxedo that was unbuttoned, showing a white dress shirt and a bow tie. "How… do I look?"

Both Barbara and Hannah were looking at their friend with little flushes on their cheeks and sparkled on their eyes.

"Oh my god Diana." Barbara said.

"Is… is something wrong?" She stared at herself in the mirror to see how the tux looked on her body.

"Are you kidding me? You look absolutely amazing! It fits you perfectly!" Hannah yelled.

"I would say I'm in love if I wasn't straight!" Barbara looked at Diana from top to bottom, then hugged her arm.

"Heh…" Diana blushed even more, nodding. "This is definitely better than wearing a dress. It's a wonderful feeling."

"I need to ask you something, though…" Hannah touched Diana's hair, looking at it with sparkling eyes.

"Yes?"

"Have you ever thought about cutting your hair?" 

.

.

.

"What?" Diana widened her eyes.

"Cutting your hair. It would look beautiful on you."

"I agree, Hannah." Barbara told her.

"..." Diana thought about it for a minute. "As much as I want to, my aunt would kill me."

"You're 18, Diana. Your aunt can't control you forever." Barbara smiled. "Besides, do you want to?"

"I…" She gulped, still looking at herself in the mirror.

She  _ did _ want to, actually. It was like Barbara and Hannah were reading her mind. But she doubts her aunt's reaction about it would be pleasant. Daryl would probably yell about how horrible she looked and that she looked like a man, that she was the disgrace of the Cavendish name, a "dyke", as she called it; which Diana was good at pretending she didn't care, but on the inside it did hurt.

On the other hand…

Barbara wasn't wrong. She was 18, she was free to do anything she wanted; and she felt deep inside of her that cutting her hair would make her feel better about herself. Diana's self-esteem was extremely low for she has been through a lot, at only 18 a lot of men asked her hand in marriage as well, not for her appearance or personality, but for her name and status. That destroyed her. Diana wanted to be loved and wanted to love someone back. Someone that ignored the "Cavendish" in her name. She already knew she was a lesbian, Barbara and Hannah were the only ones that knew at this point. The only men she ever loved was her, now deceased, father and her butler Timothy, that basically raised her along Anna.

Was cutting her hair the next step to show Daryl how she was independent now?

_ There is just one way to find out. _


	5. It's NOT a date.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko has a lot of gay panic-attacks when she sees Diana's new haircut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! Before you guys read, I think I have to tell you this chapter is a little extense. It was actually BIGGER, and I had to separate it in two because it was just too long. The reason is: Chapter 7 (former chapter 6 before I separated chapter 5 in two parts) is where the shit gets loose and the story begins. This was basically the introduction, so to speak. So I think you should prepare because I have a lot of things in my mind.
> 
> Sorry if I'm a little late! I was out of town, but I'm finally back! I'm also planning a short Diakko one-shot, since my mind's been full lately. But I swear I'll do my best.
> 
> I can't believe this fanfic got 900 HITS and 70 KUDOS! The heck guys?! You are all incredible!!! Thank you so much!! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support, really!

**_{Point of view - Narrator}_ **

**_Tuesday - 6:30 pm - Central Park_ **

Atsuko Kagari was having the  _ biggest gay panic _ she ever had in her entire life.

She was calmly walking with her friends, talking about dumb stuff like comic books, games and TV series when her eyes laid on the  _ most beautiful woman she has even seen. _

Short blond hair with green highlights, and since nothing was weighing the hair down, some parts of it were messily sticking up. Those piercing blue eyes; she swore she dove deep in the ocean when she looked at them. A black collar shirt, white trousers that made the stylish girl look even prettier. She was holding a shopping bag and her other hand was in her pants' pockets. The taller girl was leaning against a lamppost, apparently waiting for someone.

"Diana?" Lotte called the girl.

Akko froze completely, only being able to blink as she noticed she was swooning over her  _ classmate that she met yesterday. _ "D-Diana?"

Diana shook her head rapidly, which showed she'd been daydreaming about something. Glancing towards the girls, she waved her hand gently, bringing a smile upon her face.

ps: Akko was still frozen.

_ oh, you useless fucking bisexual. _

"Hello there. Fancy seeing you girls in here, I must say I'm a little surprised." she walked towards them.

"I really like your new hair." Amanda pointed out, smiling smugly. "suits ya."

"I have to say I strongly agree with Amanda, Ms. Cavendish." Lotte nodded. "I'm also surprised to see you here. Your… your haircut is amazingly beautiful!" Sucy looked away, buffing quietly.

"Oh, no need to be so formal, ms. Yanson. Call me Diana, it would be more suitable. And thank you for the compliment." She smiled, getting her hand out of her pocket and bringing up to her hair, fixing some of the messy hair. "Hannah and Barbara gave me the idea of cutting it earlier and it was of my liking, so I went to a hairdresser."

Akko was swooning  _ SO hard _ .

and Diana  _ noticed. _

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Akko? Is everything okay?" She looked worried.

"you are gorgeous" Akko clumsily spat out without intention. She blushed  _ way  _ more than she ever did before. "I-I mean! I- uh, your hair! Y-your new haircut looks… gorgeous!" She tried fixing what she said before.

Diana simply laughed, scratching the back of her neck. "Thank you very much. I appreciate it."

"Are you looking for someone?" Lotte asked.

"Oh, I'm waiting for Hannah and Barbara. They are in the Ice Cream Store. I wasn't hungry, so I chose to just wait outside." She politely said, that smile never leaving her face.

_ That  _ smile. That gorgeous smile. Oh god,  _ What came into Akko? _ It was like Diana was trying to possess her or something.

_ That smile _ reminded her of her childhood, when she met a boy at her school that she, until this day, thinks she had a crush on him. Mr. Komuro Fuji. Blond-haired boy, brown eyes, very kind and always helped Akko with math, which she was terrible in. The boy which, when she was younger, she dreamed about being her prince charming. The boy she dreamed of  _ marrying countless times. _

Akko shook her head.

'It's okay. She just reminds me of Komuro, that's all.' She thought to herself. 'They kinda look like each other…'

"May I ask what you are all doing here? If I'm not sounding rude? I tend to do that unconsciously." Diana snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Why should we answer?" Sucy raised an eyebrow, looking at Diana.

"I, uh! You don't… have to…" Diana mumbled.

"Sucy!" Lotte crossed her arms, staring at her friend.

"What?" Sucy shrugged. 

"There's no need to be like this! She's only trying to be polite!" 

"Hey, do not worry" Diana added, still with a smile. "I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable. I'm gonna go then." She turned around and went back to the lamppost, leaning against it again.

Akko shook her head "Wait!" She ran towards the blonde. Lotte was giving Sucy an angry look, while Amanda was laughing. Constanze and Jasminka were so busy sharing a snack that they didn't even notice Diana was there.

Diana looked at Akko with a curious look. "Yes?"

"D-Don't listen to Sucy! She just said that because she's jealous!"

_ "Jealous?" _ Both Sucy and Diana said in unison, although Sucy's tone was way rougher.

"Lotte complimented your hair, and Sucy really hates when Lotte's attention is in someone that's not her. Don't get too worked up about it, she does it a lot!" Akko yelled.

_ "you little bitch…"  _ Sucy angrily murmured, turning around afterward. "Okay, whatever. I'll sit with Jasminka and Constanze." 

"Sucy, wait!" Lotte followed her friend.

"What the heck…" Amanda shrugged, following them.

"Oh I'm sorry. That was my fault…" Diana bit her lower lip, looking at Akko's friends. 

"B-but you didn't even do anything wrong! You were trying to be  _ nice!" _ The brunette crossed her arms, pouting.

"Dianaaa~" Diana turned around to see Hannah and Barbara were finally back, holding their ice creams. Hannah raised an eyebrow when she saw Akko. "What are you doing here?"

"O-oh! I was just… walking with some friends. It was a total coincidence." Akko blushed.

"A weird coincidence, but okay." Barbara added, shrugging. Both girls walked towards their friend.

_ 'Am I bothering them? Kuso, I should go' _

"I'm gonna… uh… go back." Akko had an awkward smile on her face. "I'm so sorry if we caused you any trouble…"

"No no, I'm the one who would like to apologize." Diana smiled. "By the way, you are looking nice."

Akko felt her face heat up even more. "A-Arigato! You too!" The brunette rushed towards her friends, living a confused Cavendish watching as she clumsily ran away.

"What… just happened?" Hannah asked.

"I'm… afraid I have the same question." Diana whispered. "Well, we should go. It's getting late and I still have to cook dinner."

" 'You have to cook dinner?' " Barbara chuckled.

"What? Tonight is my turn."

"You're a terrible cook, Diana" Hannah crossed her arms.

"I am not! I just have some… difficulties!" The taller girl put her free hand on her hip.

"Of course, Dia." Barbara laughed. "Y'know what?" Hannah and Diana looked at their black-haired friend. "I think we should eat pizza in celebration for Diana's new haircut."

"I wholeheartedly agree, Barbara!" Hannah added, turning her glance towards Diana for confirmation.

Diana shrugged. "Why not."

So they left for their humble (that was not really… humble. They were all rich.) and comfy home.  _ Although _ Diana was still thinking about Atsuko's unusual reaction about her haircut.

**_-/-/-/-_ **

Akko panted when she finally reached her friends. "Why didn't you wait for me?!"

"We thought you were goin' to make out with the prodigy girl there. " Amanda chuckled.

"I-I….!!" Akko shook her head, blushing real hard. "Her haircut caught me off-guard, that's all. She reminded me of Komuro-kun…"

"Your childhood crush?" Sucy added.

Akko blushed a little. "That one, yeah."

"Uh, Akko…" Lotte looked at the brunette. "We never really… talked about this, at all." The girl scratched her arm. 

"What?" Akko raised an eyebrow.

"Are you even attracted to women?" She asked.

Akko looked surprised at the question. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Oh. You're bisexual then?"

"Yeah. I noticed that some time ago. I totally had the biggest crush ever on Shiny Chariot, hehe…" The short girl blushed. "But I've had crushes on other girls at school. And some teachers too…"

Lotte smiled. "That's nice to know. I know it was a sudden question, but I wasn't sure if what you felt about Chariot was an actual crush or just admiration."

"That just confirms she has the hots for Miss Cavendish there." Amanda snickered.

"I don't!" Akko yelled. "I literally met her yesterday! C'mon guys!"

"Wait, so you're telling me you never saw her on TV?" Amanda looked at the short brunette. Akko shook her head. "So you don't watch TV at all, apparently. She's like, everyone's favorite hero. And she's not even a hero yet, that's ridiculous."

"Wait, really?" Akko was actually surprised by that.

"Didn't you notice all the girls drooling over Diana when we were talking to her?" Lotte playfully asked, with a little chuckle afterward. "It's like she's a magnet for attention."

"Of course she didn't. She was gay panicking." Sucy shrugged.

Akko scratched her arm.  _ 'Way out of my league then…'  _ She sadly thought.

"Oh dude!" Amanda groaned. "All the girls at Luna Nova will be falling over Diana now! Just because I thought I had a chance of finally getting a girlfriend!"

Jasminka approached her, putting her hand on her friend's shoulder. "You are stylish and really beautiful. Of course you still have a chance. Lots of chances!" The pink-haired girl happily said.

Amanda chuckled. "Thanks, Jasna, you're the best. I was just joking though, I know I'm awesome."

Akko rolled her eyes.

**_-/-/-/-_ **

Wednesday's class was _ absolute hell. _

Diana unconsciously ended up sitting beside Akko in class; Barbara and Hannah sitting behind her. Not that Akko cared about that, it was actually cool she was getting to socialize with someone as important as Diana. The problem was…

_ Her fangirls. _

Oh boy, it was annoying. Even Hannah and Barbara were tired of it. Diana couldn't take anymore either.

Diana was calmly writing some stuff down on her notebook, when a red-haired girl came to her. The blonde looked up, watching as the girl turned herself into a stuttering mess.

"H-hello! My name is… Francie Morgan, you probably don't know who I am." The girl said, blushing as hell. "I-I just wanted to say you're really beautiful! I'm a big fan…" She gulped, extending her hand to Diana. "I've, uh… I've always been, actually. It's… really cool to study in the same class as yOUUUU-UUh" Francie almost freaked out as Diana shook her hand with a lovely smile.

"Thank you, Ms. Morgan. I appreciate it." Diana gently said.

"yOURE WElcomE UH" She gave Diana the biggest smile she could and then ran away.

When Francie sat down on her desk again, Diana sighed.

"I can't take this anymore…" The blonde whispered.

"NEITHER CAN WE!" Hannah answered from behind her. Her eyes were being basically surrounded by specks of lighting and her pupils were almost invisible. She was  _ clearly _ furious. "Why did I give you the idea of cutting your hair again? It turned you into a girl magnet!"

"For god's sake…" Barbara rolled her eyes.

As much as Akko hated all this turmoil around her desk neighbor, she actually found it kinda funny to see how those girls reacted when Diana smiled at them. One of them fucking  _ fainted _ in the middle of class. Also, seeing Hannah so angry was hilarious. She was  _ this close _ of electrocuting someone to death. Barbara was just exhausted, like she hadn't had any sleep.

The truth is, a lot of girls came to their house,  _ invaded their personal space in the middle of the fucking NIGHT,  _ just to tell Diana her haircut was beautiful.

"You okay?" Akko asked with a smug smile on her face.

"Could have been better…" Diana crossed her arms, looking at Akko. "But you definitely look like you are enjoying yourself."

"Their reactions are funny." The brunette chuckled.

Diana remained serious for a second, but broke into a giggle. "You are not wrong."

Akko was about to tell Diana that her haircut  _ indeed _ looked wonderful on her, when suddenly a woman came from the door.

"Ursula-sensei!" Akko excitedly yelled.

"Miss Kagari! how good seeing you here!" The blue-haired woman smiled.

"So this is the teacher that broke into your house and kidnapped your parents?" Sucy calmly asked. Ursula blushed.

"It was an exam, and yeah, it's her. She's awesome!"

"Well, let me introduce myself to you guys." Ursula smiled. "My name is Ursula Callistis; From now on, I will be your Astrology professor."

_ 'Why do we even have astrology here? It's an all-heroes-school!'  _ Akko thought to herself.

Diana rose her hand.

"Oh, you must be the famous Diana Cavendish!" Ursula sat down. "You may ask."

"I was told before joining Luna Nova Academy that at the end of the first week of every year the students are assigned to a real mission to test their abilities. Is it true?"

"Indeed it is. I actually planned to talk about it with you all. The class will be split into teams of 6 for what we call "Official Hero Initiative". Every team will have a professor by their side because our principal isn't crazy to send a class of- with all due respect - Amateurs in a dangerous mission." She took a paper out of her jacket's pocket. "The team I will be supporting is made by Diana Elizabeth Cavendish, which will be the head of it; the leader. The rest of the team is Hannah England, Barbara Parker, Sucy Manbavaran, Lotte Yanson and Atsuko Kagari." Ursula put the paper back in her pocket. "The other teams will be announced by their professors. I would like if my team could stay here a bit longer after class so we can discuss what is our mission about."

Akko shared a confused look with Sucy and Lotte. The blue team, however, seemed confident enough. 

"Excuse me, professor?" Lotte raised a hand.

"Yes, Miss Yanson?" Professor Ursula looked at Lotte.

"Will it be tomorrow?"

"No. The mission will be Friday, so you have one day to prepare yourselves."

"This will be easy." Hannah smiled, crossing her arms.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, Hannah." Diana whispered.

_ 'Oh.'  _ Akko looked at the tall blond beside her.  _ 'Mission with Diana. Cool.' _

**_-/-/-/-_ **

They stayed there until class was over; Waiting for everyone to leave so they could finally discuss their mission with professor Callistis. When they were alone, Akko happily bounced towards Ursula.

"Professor Ursula!" Akko hugged the woman. "I missed you!"

The truth is, Ursula stayed for a week after Akko's exam at her house. She was still evaluating the girl, and in the meantime, Akko grew a lot on the blue-haired woman. She sure was overwhelmed by all the Shiny Chariot stick-figures Atsuko had, but she thought it was cute how the brunette admired someone so dearly.

"Hey Akko!" Ursula caressed Akko's hair. "How have you been?"

"Awesome! Thank you so much for asking Lotte and Sucy if I could live with them! They're the best!" Akko said. Lotte blushed.

"Akko may be troublesome, but she has a good heart." Lotte put her hand on Akko's shoulder.

"We're not dead yet, so I guess it's okay." Sucy added.

Akko pouted. "You know you love me!"

"yeah right." Sucy rolled her eyes.

"Miss Cavendish?" Ursula looked at the tall girl, watching as she packed up her school supplies. "Can you and your team stay for a little longer? Or are you busy?"

"Of course, professor." Diana smiled, looking at her friends afterward. They both nodded. "We are free." She said, approaching them. Hannah and Barbara were right behind her. "And please call me Diana. 'Miss Cavendish' sounds like I am a 50-year-old woman." 

Ursula chuckled. "Okay, Diana." 

"So, what's this mission about?" Hannah asked.

Professor Ursula grabbed a backpack from behind her desk and took some kind of digital device that was totally round. Putting it on the table, she pressed a button on the device that created a hologram that looked a lot like a map.

"Wow!" Akko's eyes sparkled. "That's awesome!"

"I believe that is a digital map. My mother used to use this all the time." Diana brought a hand to her chin.

"My dad also uses it." Lotte said.

"This is a device that only heroes that have licenses can use-" She took 6 cards from inside her backpack and put them beside the digital device. "-that includes students from Luna Nova and other schools that train heroes. I saw the look you were giving each other when I called your names and before you ask me, yes, I chose you six manually." The blue-haired woman smiled. "I can see a bright future coming from each one of you."

Akko looked at Sucy and Lotte, who looked as confused as she was. 

"Is this the place we are assigned to visit?" Diana asked, pointing at the map. It was a strange place; it looked like a city, but it was completely petrified.

"Yes." Ursula turned at the map. "We are going to the Caverns of Magnhold, which is located in the village of Saint Morthag." the professor manually zoomed in, showing the caverns.

"It looks…" Barbara started.

"...Petrified…" Lotte ended the phrase, raising an eyebrow.

"I have heard about this village before." Diana scratched her chin.

Ursula nodded. "Our mission is to retrieve the artifact that we believe is maintaining the village petrified, for there are not only buildings there, but also people." Akko widened her eyes. "We do not know if they are alive. But we have to risk it all-"

"Because that's a hero's duty." Atsuko completed the sentence, with determination in her eyes. Ursula smiled.

"Yes." The professor responded. "But we have to be careful. There are various reports from other heroes that that place is infested with monsters. That's why I'll wait for you tomorrow after class so we can train-" before Ursula ended, she noticed Diana frowning and her friends sharing a worried look. "Is something wrong, Diana?"

"Ah, I reserved a meeting with a psychologist tomorrow after class. I will probably be a little late. Is that a problem?"

_ 'psychologist?'  _ Akko gave Diana a worried look.

"That's not a problem at all, dear." Ursula smiled gently. She then turned to Barbara and Hannah. "Will you be coming late as well?"

"I don't think so, professor Ursula." Hannah smiled.

"Perfect, then. Get your student cards, they will be extremely important from now on." They all did as they were said. "You can now."

_ 'Oh, I'm so excited! My first mission as an amateur hero!"  _ Akko bounced happily. Diana let out a calm laugh.

"You certainly seem excited, Akko." Diana said, walking beside her.

"And I am!! Aren't you?" 

"It won't be my first mission, but I am excited to work with you and your team." Diana smiled.

"Eh?! Not your first mission?" She looked at Diana, surprised. "Have you been to other missions before?!"

The taller girl nodded. "Since Lotus was such a big and known hero, the council that's responsible for all the heroes' licenses puts a lot of faith in me. Well, not in me… in the name "Cavendish"." Diana shrugged. "So they have called me before."

"That's so cool, Diana-chan! How many missions have you been in?" the brunette asked, smiling brightly.

_ 'Chan?'  _ Diana raised an eyebrow, but decided to ignore it.

"3 or so. They were only minor missions, however, nothing too big." The blonde smiled. 

"Wow, you must be amazing on the battlefield…" Akko was just a  _ tiny bit _ jealous.

"I really do not think so. I hardly ever fight, to begin with."

Akko opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a short blonde (she was actually shorter than Akko) that stopped in front of Diana. At that, Atsuko buffed. She  _ hated _ being interrupted.

Diana raised an eyebrow. "H-hello, miss Diana! my name is Francesca Vasconcellos." She slightly bowed. 

"He...llo?" Diana slowly responded. "May I… help you?"

"I-I just wanted to say hi. Tell you that, y'know… you're gorgeous. I really like your new haircut. Your perk is incredible." She said. Akko rolled her eyes.  _ "And you're unbelievably sexy…"  _ Francesca whispered, swooning.

"P-pardon me?" The Cavendish girl blushed a lot at that last statement.  _ 'She looks uncomfortable…'  _ Thought Akko.

"C-can you give me an autograph?" Fran took a pen out of her pocket, giving it to Diana.

"An autograph?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Y-yeah. Right here." the fangirl pointed at her forehead. 

Diana gave her a weird look but just sighed, writing her name on the girl's forehead. Francesca screamed, thanking Diana and running towards her group of friends.  _ Boy, was she fangirling. _

"Wowzers." Akko chuckled. "You're lucky. You seem to be the center of attention." 

"Lucky? No. It's almost unbearable." The blonde said, chuckling as well.

"Wait, really? If I had people drooling all over me I'd be incredibly happy."

"Most of them are just coming to me because I'm a Cavendish. I'm nothing special."

"Don't be stupid, you're the most beautiful person I've ever met-" Akko widened her eyes, feeling her face flush.  _ 'I DIDN'T MEAN TO SAY THAT' _

Diana gulped, blushing as hard as Akko. "Uh…" She looked at the girl, giving her an embarrassed smile. "T-Thank you, Akko. You are very beautiful as well."

An awkward silence fell above the two of them. They were walking in the school corridors and didn't even notice that their friends weren't there anymore.

Akko tried to put an end to the deadly silence. She put her hands on her jacket's pockets, still not daring to look at Diana's ocean eyes. "S-So, uh…" the brunette started. "Are you.. free later? We could walk around the campus. Team bonding and all of that…"

Diana cleared her throat. "T-that sounds lovely. Hannah and Barbara will not be able to come, I'm afraid. They are going to the spa."

"O-oh…" Akko nodded. "It's okay. Sucy and Lotte are going to look for some mushrooms, so that's okay."

"Pardon me asking, but are they dating?" 

"No, but they're certainly in love with each other. I guess Sucy knows it already, just… Lotte hasn't noticed it yet." Akko shrugged.

"I see. They look cute together."

Akko nodded again. "Are you… do you… do you have a boyfriend?"

"A boyfriend?" Diana raised an eyebrow. "I do not mean to be rude, but do I look like the type that is interested in boys?" she whispered the last part. 

_ Weirdly, she did not feel ashamed by stating that she was attracted to girls. What changed? She did not know. Maybe her new haircut really was a new beginning for her. She felt so much better than before. _

_ It gave her confidence. _

"Fair point." Akko giggled.

"And no, I do not have a special one." Diana said. "As much as I would like to, I do not think I would have time to engage in a relationship. I would rather not break someone else's heart than finding someone to fill my own needs."

"Very poetic." the shorter girl smiled. "I think I'm still looking for someone I can love. Give my heart and my soul. I mean, I'm still seventeen, but you get what I'm saying."

"Has any boy catch your eye here at Luna Nova?" Diana asked, with her hands in the pockets of her pants.  _ "Or any girl?" _ she added.

"I don't think so. But I can't be sure. It usually takes a while until I notice I have a crush on somebody." Akko shrugged.

"Oh, so  _ you are _ attracted to women." Diana smiled.

"Yeah" Akko giggled. "I mean, I'm bi. I swing both ways."

"Every fish in the sea wants to kiss you?" 

"I guess" Akko looked at the taller girl. But she still had one question lingering in the back of her mind. The brunette kept looking at Diana, blushing. "Uuuh… Diana?"

"Yes?"

"Are you okay?" She bit her lower lip.

Diana raised an eyebrow, turning her gaze towards Akko. "Pardon me?"

"I- uh. Are you okay?"

"Why- Yes, I am. Why are you asking?"

"I heard you and professor Ursula talking about you going to the psychologist tomorrow." Diana's eyes widened.

"Oh, uh… it is a hard subject to talk about. I would appreciate it if you could just put it aside." Diana said, turning away her gaze and scratching her neck.

"A-ah…" Akko looked at the ground, feeling a little bit of guilt crawling up her skin. "Gomenasai."

There was a brave silence between them, but Diana didn't seem to be offended. Just slightly confused. "What does that mean?"

"Huh? Oh, it means 'I'm sorry' " Akko explained

Diana nodded "There is no need for apologies, you did not know. And thank you for explaining it to me. Japanese is a language I'm trying to learn."

"How many languages do you speak?"

" Five. English, obviously… Russian, French, Spanish and Italian."

"You're from England, right? Your accent is very present." Akko smiled.

"Is it? I moved to New York last year, so I guess it makes sense." The taller girl chuckled.

_ 'It's kinda sexy-'  _ Akko shook her head.  _ 'Why did I think that?' _

Diana looked at her watch. "Well, I guess I should get going. I have been training my perk daily to see if I can control it even a little bit."

"At least you have a perk, hehe." Akko shrugged.

Diana stopped walking, both hands holding her backpack's straps.

"Huh?" Akko also stopped, watching Diana.

Diana frowned. "My perk is a burden, Akko."

"...what?" Her crimson eyes stared Diana confusingly. The blonde only sighed and slowly shook her head, starting to walk again.

"Nevermind that. We should part ways. You said you wanted to walk around the campus later?" 

"H-hai…" Diana could see a speck of guilt on Akko's red eyes; That made her feel bad for the reaction she had.

She decided to change the subject. "Can you please give me your number? so you can tell me where you live more clearly. I'll pick you up at 5:00 pm."

Akko rapidly nodded, blushing.  _ 'Shouldn't we just meet at the campus? Why is she going to my house?'  _ She thought, writing her phone number on a paper that she found in her pocket and giving it to Diana.

"It's a date, then." Diana simply smiled, putting the paper in her pants' pocket and walking away.

_ 'A-a date?' _ Her eyes widened.  _ 's-should I wear something? S-she, uh, she probably just made a mistake there, that's okay.'  _ Akko sighed, relieved.  _ 'Why am I even blushing? I met her two days ago… We'll just, uh, walk.' _

_ 'right?' _

**_-/-/-/-_ **

"You and Diana are going out on a date?" Lotte raised an eyebrow

"you met her two days ago calm the fuck down" Sucy crossed her arms.

"N-no!" Akko yelled. "It's not a date! We're just going to walk!"

"Whatever, just don't let her enter my room." The purple-haired girl shrugged.

"W-why would she-"

"Who knows." Sucy added.

"Well, we better get going. It will be hard to find your mushrooms if it's too dark." Lotte said, smiling at Sucy, who just nodded. 

"Good luck!" Akko waved gently.

"Good luck with your date."

"It's not a stupid date!"

the young blue-eyed girl laughed then left the house just behind Sucy.

Akko buffed. "It's not a date…" She whispered to herself, walking towards her own room. She opened her closet, taking a good look at her clothes.  _ 'what should I wear?'  _ She thought, biting her lower lip.  _ 'I should've asked Lotte about it. She's better than me at this…' _

Akko sighed, scratching her head. She was probably overthinking this. The brunette shrugged to herself, getting some red cargo shorts and a white t-shirt with the image of a robot in the center of it.

"Snickers should do it." The girl said, completing her look. 

She took a look at her watch.  _ It was 4:52 pm. _ Diana should be here at any time now.

They messaged each other for a while before dressing themselves up. Akko introduced Diana to her favorite memes, such as "Omae wa mo shindeiru" and "Nasa peepo". Diana, however, seemed to be very confused by them.  _ Akko would totally show Diana more of this memeal world. It was incredible. Maybe the next one would be the “My QI of 9 billion tells me you have homosexual” one.  _ _ Because that fitted Diana so perfectly. _

Akko was taken out of her thoughts when she heard the bell of her house ringing. "Oh, that must be Diana" She got up from her bed, looking at herself one last time in the mirror (Which she didn’t know why she did. It was NOT a date.) before walking to the front door and opening it.

"Hello." The tall blonde smirked. She was wearing a baby blue button-up shirt and black jeans that fitted her perfectly. Akko blushed but gave the girl her charismatic smile.

"Hey…" Akko bit her lower lip. 

"I'm sorry I'm a little early. I'm usually paranoid about being punctual." Diana smiled.

"I can see you doing that!" The brunette laughed. "Do you want… coffee before we go? I still haven't eaten anything yet."

"Oh, I prefer tea. But of course."

"Lotte prefers tea too, so have that" Akko crossed her arms, smiling. "Please come in." Said the crimson-eyed girl, moving away from the door for Diana to enter. And so she did.

"Your house seems very comfy." Diana sat on the couch.

"I know right? Well, actually this is Sucy’s and Lotte’s house. I’m practically an exchange student.” Akko began before going to the kitchen to get the tea.

“I see.” Diana smiled brightly. “I understand you. When I moved here Hannah and Barbara lived together; they moved months earlier than me. I wasn’t supposed to be in Luna Nova.”

“Wait, WHAT?” Akko yelled from the kitchen.

The blonde giggled at Akko’s surprised reaction. “My aunt Daryl didn’t want me to follow my parents’ footsteps. She wanted me to be a doctor.” Diana shrugged. “Now I will admit it, I would love to be a doctor. Whenever I save someone, I feel confidence boosting me up; But that is what being a hero is about, it is not?” She smirked. “It may not look like it, but I do enjoy fighting. The adrenaline of a battle it’s what keeps me alive.”

“Oh,” Akko entered the room, putting Diana’s cup of tea on the table in front of the couch. “I really want to see you fighting in real life. You must be incredible!”

“People overestimate me, Akko.” Diana sighed. “I think a little less about ‘Diana’ and more about ‘Akko’ would be pleasant, however. We only talk about me. I want to know about you.”

“Talk about me? What is there to talk about me?” Akko raised an eyebrow.

“I do not know. You tell me, Atsuko Kagari!” Diana leaned her back on the sofa, giving the shorter girl a relaxed smile.

“Oh, okay…” Akko looked at the ground, thoughtful.  _ ‘What should I tell her…’  _ She bit her lower lip. “My parents also didn’t have any powers?”

“I, uh… know that. It’s really hard for someone that has a perk to have a child that hasn’t. Almost impossible…”

“Okay Ms. Know-it-all.” Akko rolled her eyes.

“I apologize.” Diana chuckled, drinking her tea. 

_ ‘I’m not a very interesting person…’  _ the girl said to herself quietly, scratching her head.  _ ‘What does she want to know: About Japan? About my parents? About my childhood?’ _

“May I ask you one question? It will probably sound rude, but I swear to you It is not my intention to offend you in any way.” Diana put her cup of tea down on the table again; She turned her gaze towards Akko, completely focusing on those blood-red eyes. Akko could feel Diana staring into her soul.  _ That gave her chills. _

“Y-Yeah?” Akko stuttered, feeling all the nervousness crawling into her skin. Was it a normal thing for Diana to  _ stare into people’s souls?  _ Because it certainly looked easy for her.

“How did you manage to join Luna Nova Academy without a perk?” Diana asked with the kindest tone she had in the back of her throat. “I can understand how Constanze entered, she is a pretty talented engineer and that can serve for many things. But you certainly have to be more than just… muscles to enter our school.”

Akko stopped and thought about what she did to enter. 

Well, yeah, she  _ punched a professor in the face _ , but she also passed on the theoretical test. She wasn’t a  _ genius _ , for she got right 80% of the questions out of 100%. Akko never really stopped to think about this before. 

“Actually, I… don’t know?” Diana’s eyebrow raised once more, showing Akko she didn’t get her answer quite right.

“Pardon me? You are telling me you don’t know how you entered one of the most prestigious schools in all of the world?” The blond-haired girl crossed her arms. “I am sorry but I do not believe you.”

“But I’m telling you the truth!” Akko pouted. “I really don’t know what happened. I mean, I passed both tests the professors threw at me, but I really thought that wasn’t going to be enough to actually enter Luna Nova.” She bit her cheek. “I should ask professor Ursula about it. She was the one they sent to my house to complete the test. What professor did they send you?”

“Uuuh..” Diana blushed. “They didn’t need to. Principal Holbrooke was the one who saw me, Hannah and Barbara as potential heroes and sent invitations.” She gave Akko a shy smile.

“Heh, I guess I should’ve seen that coming. You are a prodigy, after all.” Akko got up from her sir. “Are you done?” She pointed at the cup of tea.

“As a matter of fact, I am. Thank you, it was delicious.” Diana told her. The brunette nodded, taking the now empty cup and putting it on the sink.  _ ‘I can wash this later’  _ She said to herself. “Should we get going?”

“I thought you were going to eat something?”

  
“Ah, I lost my appetite.” Akko shrugged, smiling. “Besides, we can just eat something in a cafeteria or something. No problem.”

“I would like that.” Diana put her hands in her pockets. “But I’m paying. You already welcomed me to your house and that’s enough.”   
  


“What?! Not fair! I was the one who asked you if you wanted to go out!” Akko pouted again.

“Atsuko,  _ honey,  _ I’m rich.” Diana raised an eyebrow, smirking. 

Akko groaned. “Okay, ms. Aristocrat! Just this once!” Akko opened the door, waiting for Diana to leave. Before she followed the taller girl, she widened her eyes, Diana’s words finally sinking in.

_ Honey?! _

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone wondering how Diana's haircut looks and since I don't knowbhow to describe it, here's a drawing I made
> 
> https://satanick-1.tumblr.com/post/612538783415615488/believing-in-your-heart-thats-your-superpower


	6. Basketballs and apologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Akko have a brief argument and that gets quite intense/Professor Ursula gives the blue and red teams a simple activity so they can warm up a little bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you read, I'll have to warn you. This chapter has some heavy subjects, like anxiety and implied self-harm. It's really brief, but I felt I had to say it because some people don't feel comfortable reading these kind of things. 
> 
> Sorry for the delay here. Quarantine her in Brazil finally started and my friends suddenly decided they wanted to play RPG EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. 
> 
> I'm sorry if this one is not so good. My artblock decided to attack me this week :(
> 
> And I should tell you: In the next chapter things will get serious. Or like we say here in Brazil: "The beast is going to catch" (that's literally the phrase)

**_{Point of View - Narrator}_ **

Atsuko Kagari was totally outraged.

When she was a kid, she was used to having people all around her talking about heroes; they were… no, they ARE pretty awesome, after all. But the center of the attention was  _ always _ the number #1 hero, Shiny Chariot. Everybody talked about her; everybody idolized her. Of course they did, she was amazing! She could fly! She saved dozens of people daily!

So it was  _ weird _ for Akko, someone who saw Chariot as a goddess when she was a child, to sit in front of someone in an Ice Cream store that apparently  _ didn’t like _ the red-haired superhero!

“What do you mean  _ you don’t like Shiny Chariot?!”  _ Akko crossed her arms. Diana could see a red aura of anger around Akko, and  _ god _ , that gave her chills. They were calmly talking about heroes that they adored, but it came to her attention that Akko talked  _ a lot _ about Shiny Chariot, so she interrupted the brunette telling her that ‘She’s not a Chariot’s fan’. That literally made Akko drop her chocolate-flavored ice cream.

“I never said I don’t like Chariot, Akko. I said I’m not her fan.” Diana was actually pretty amused by the situation.  _ Besides  _ Akko’s threatening death aura, her reaction was quite funny.  _ ‘I can work with that in the future.’  _ She thought to herself, putting a devilish smirk upon her face.

“BUT  _ HOW??? _ She’s the absolute best hero of all time!! Chariot’s literally the symbol of peace!!!” Atsuko yelled, crossing her arms and stomping her feet.

“ ‘Symbol of peace’? Who told you that, Akko?” The now short-haired blonde raised an eyebrow.

Akko blushed, turning away her gaze. “I-I did…. I created that nickname…But that’s not the point of all of this!” She pouted. “How can she NOT be your favorite hero?!”

“Akko, my mother was a hero. My grandfather was a hero. My great-grandmother was a hero. Do you really think Chariot would be my favorite one?” Diana smiled.

“Don’t you dare use good arguments against me!” Akko put her hands on her hips. “Also, you owe me an Ice cream.”

“Whaaa…”

“You were the one that made me drop it in the first place! And you’re rich!”

Diana laughed briefly, nodding afterward. “Fine.” 

Akko sighed, shaking her head. Nevertheless, she still had a playful smile on her face. “I’m kidding, you don’t need too. It’s getting late. I think we should go home.”

“You are right. New York is dangerous at night.” Diana looked through the Ice cream store’s window.

“Have you, um, ever been robbed before?” Akko innocently asked.

“Not really.” She told her. “I think people recognize me by the hair.” 

“Damn!” the brunette giggled. “Every time I go out I’ll call you from now on.”

“You underestimate yourself, Akko.” Diana crossed her arms, her tone very harsh.

"Diana, you saw me fight once, and I lost, on top of that." Akko said, getting up from her seat and waiting for Diana to do the same. 

“Akko, it’s not exactly abnormal for a hero to lose. We are students, not professionals. I can see so much potential in you.” Diana said and stood up. “It’s a shame you don’t believe in your own heart.” The blonde sighed, clearly disappointed, walking away slowly.

In that moment, Akko felt pure rage crawl up inside her. She stopped everything she was doing and looked ate Diana angrily. “...What do you even know about me, Diana?” She asked in a harsh tone. “You met me less than a week ago!”

The taller girl stopped, looking around. Before she could say anything, Akko interrupted her.

“Don’t you dare say I don’t believe in my ‘own heart’! I’ve been through thick and thin to get here.” Akko crossed her arms, looking at her feet. “Which you don’t get it, since you come from a family of aristocrats and you didn’t even do anything for Luna Nova to invite you.”

Diana could feel anger climbing her head. “I-”

She was interrupted by the shorter brunette again. “You wanna know why I supposedly lost faith in myself? Well, I’ll tell you.” They didn’t even notice the people around them staring confusingly. “Not everyone is kind-hearted. I’ve been bullied my whole childhood because I tried so much to be like a hero that I always ended up with scars all around my body. So many people told me I should give up and just be, I don’t know, a car-station attendant. So if I lost faith in myself, so what? I won’t be the first one! Of course I’m happy to be a student from Luna Nova, but that doesn’t change the fucking reality that I wasn’t born with a superpower and I’ll probably just be a police officer in the future!”

The blonde’s anger faded away in an instant as she approached the girl, that as a matter of fact, had tears in her eyes. “A-Akko, I’m sorr-”

“You know what? I’ll go home. You should do the same.” Akko walked away, ignoring Diana. “We’ll see each other tomorrow.”

Diana watched as Akko disappeared from her sight.  _ ‘Way to go, Diana Elizabeth Cavendish, you  _ **_useless_ ** _ motherfucker.’  _ She thought to herself, fixing her messy hair.  _ ‘I just wanted to help. Oh my god, I’m so sorry for being a  _ **_bitch.’_ ** She wanted to tell Akko. Diana felt terrible.

**_I doubt she will forgive me. Possibly the only thing she will do tomorrow is walk as far away from me as possible and ignore my existence. I’m so useless… Why did I open my big mouth? That is my biggest quality after all, fucking everything up. Oh god, I’m so sorry Akko. I should have stayed quiet. If I just shut up,_ ** **_permanently,_ ** **_things would be bett-_ **

She sighed, turning her gaze at the ceiling

**_Fuck. Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck… Not this again…_ **

The blonde tried her best to prevent her anxiety from ruining her day more than it already has.  _ ‘In and out… In and out…’ _

She really needed to go to a psychologist,  _ didn’t she? _

Diana brought a hand to her forehead, walking towards the door.  _ ‘I’m sorry, mum. I’ll get better, I promise.’ _

**_-/-/-/-_ **

When Akko got home, her friends were already there, in the living room, watching Nightfall’s live action (Which Sucy hated. She was watching because Lotte asked her to.). The brunette still had some tears in her eyes, but while she walked home, she thought a lot about the situation and she regretted acting the way she did towards Diana.  _ She was just trying to help, you dum dum.  _

“Oh, Akko, how did the date g-” Sucy shot up, being the first one to notice Akko at the entrance. She narrowed her eyes when she realised her eyes were watery. “What did that fucker do?”

Lotte, confused, looked at Akko. “Akko? Are you crying?”

“I’m not, it’s okay, I’m okay.” Akko lied, walking upstairs. “I’ll be in my room. We have a lot of things to do tomorrow. I bet it will be tiring. Good night girls…” She ran to her room.

“Oh that blond motherfucker definitely did something.” Sucy growled. “I told you she wasn’t trustful.”

“Let’s not take any conclusions yet. We don’t even know what happened…” Lotte looked at the taller girl, worried about their friend. “I think Akko wants to be alone for now. We should talk about it tomorrow.”

“Sure, fine.” Sucy shrugged. “But I’m sure this is Diana’s fault.”

Lotte rolled her eyes at her stubborn friend.

**_-/-/-/-_ **

Barbara and Hannah were  _ utterly  _ confused. 

Hannah, in specific, was cooking dinner as Barbara was baking cake for dessert. It hasn’t been more than an hour since they arrived home.

When a  _ very  _ melancholic Diana came through the door.

“Dia? Are you okay?” Hannah asked, seeing her friend sadly walk to her room in the big apartment.

Diana only gave them a thumbs up, entering her bedroom.

“She’s definitely not okay…” Barbara murmured, biting her lower lip and sharing a worried look with Hannah. The black-haired girl let go of everything she had in hands, then knocking on her friend’s door. “Hey, Diana? Did something bad happen? I’m... I’m baking a cake…you know, vanilla, your favorite…”

“Thanks for the consideration, Barb. I’m not in the mood. I’ll be okay.” Barbara heard her blond friend say.

“I hope so…” She said as she distanced herself from the door. “That’s bad. I know that tone.”

“I do too…” Hannah sighed. “It’s better if we leave her alone, for now at least… Later we can call her again to eat dinner.”

“Right…” Barbara hesitantly said, looking away from Diana’s door.

**_-/-/-/-_ **

“Akko? Akko, honey…” Ursula called her student, who was currently sleeping in the middle of her class.

Sucy elbowed Akko, finally waking the brunette up.

“uh? wa-wha- what?” She mumbled, looking at her teacher.

Ursula sighed. “You’re in the middle of class, sweetie. I know you’re tired, but now is not the time for that, okay?” the professor told her, going back to the front of the class.

“Have you had any sleep last night?” Lotte asked.

“I-I mean… I did sleep, just not enough.” It wasn’t a lie. She slept for about 2 hours before waking up to the sound of the alarm clock. Akko basically spent all night moping around to herself about how she was going to apologize to Diana.

Sucy looked at Diana on the other side of the classroom and growled. Lotte put a hand on her shoulder. “Calm down Sucy… We still don’t know what happened.” She murmured so only her purple-haired friend could hear.

“Whatever.” Sucy whispered back.

Akko was barely awake. But she was at least trying not to sleep.

Diana, however, seemed to be fine. Or in the very least that’s what Akko thought, and weirdly, that thought  _ hurt. _

Akko sighed, waiting until the class was finally over so she could apologize. She wasn’t expecting Diana to exit the room earlier than her, though. Hannah and Barbara were still packing their things up, so the brunette walked to them, afraid they would scold her (that is, if Diana even told them about what happened yesterday).

“I-Is Diana okay?” Akko asked Diana’s friends, a bit worried.

“We don’t know actually…” Hannah crossed her arms, looking at the classroom’s door. “She got home yesterday and went directly to bed. She still hasn’t talked to us yet.”

“Do you have something to do with it, _ Kagari? _ ” Barbara’s tone was extremely harsh. 

“N-No…” Akko lied. “Do you know where she went off?”

“Probably to the courtyard. She usually goes there when she’s sad.” Hannah told her.

“Oh, ok! Thanks!” Akko said as she ran off to the school’s courtyard, hoping to find Diana there.

_ I hope she’s okay…  _

She thought while she ran, biting her lower lip.

When Akko finally arrived at the courtyard, she saw Diana sitting on the grass, her back leaning against a tree. Her eyes were closed and her legs were crossed. She looked…  _ ‘peaceful…’  _ Akko told herself.

The brunette was actually really hesitant in actually approaching her. 

Was she angry with her? upset, maybe? 

Akko shook her head, sighing and sitting on the grass, beside Diana. She stayed silent for a second.  _ ‘Did she even notice I’m here?’  _ She asked herself.

“Diana?” 

No response.

“Uuuh… Di-Diana?” Akko asked again, touching her shoulder. Diana remained quiet. “She’s… asleep…” She murmured to herself, letting go of the taller girl. Akko kept watching her for a minute, with a trouble expression on her face.  _ ‘“oh, I’m so sorry, Diana…”  _ She whispered.

Akko was much more worried than she should be, surely. Diana didn’t exactly seem the type to hold a grudge against someone.  _ Right? _

_  
_ _  
_ “It’s fine.” Akko widened her eyes when she heard Diana say in a low tone of voice.

“O-oh, you’re awake…” The brunette said.

“Well, you woke me up, so yes.” Diana opened her eyes. That’s when Akko notice there were bags under Diana’s eyes. 

“I-I’m…” Akko stammered. “I’m sorry. I’m gonna go-” Diana shook her head.

  
“No, you can stay. I have to get dressed for therapy anyway, so you won’t have to look at my face again until later.” Diana said as she got up from the grass, interrupting Akko before she could say anything. “Au revoir.” As weird as it seems, Diana’s tone didn’t sound harsh or even angry. She just sounded...

Tired. Exhausted. Worn-out.

Akko felt guilt crawling up her body while she saw Diana walk away without even looking back at her. “And that’s my fault…” She murmured, sighing. 

_ Damn it. _

**_-/-/-/-_ **

Sucy’s patience had its limits. It was rather long, as weird as it sounds, but she always had a lot of patience. One day, her older sister accidentally broke a jar with her precious Clatus Ruber, her most adored mushroom, but she stayed patient and accepted her apologies calmly. There was this other time when she and Lotte had a discussion because she had been staying awake all night to do experiments with her perk and the toxins inside her body; Despite the discussion, she stayed patient and promised Lotte she wouldn’t to that again unless she absolutely had to. (oh yes, they totally look like a married couple, don’t they?)

But she reached her limits.

She was so used to seeing Akko bubbling with happiness and trying to cheer everyone who was having a bad day. Sucy never really thought Akko was at least  _ capable _ of being anything  _ but  _ happy.

But seeing her melancholic face made her heart burn with rage.

Yeah, of course, Lotte was right. They didn’t know what exactly happened, but she did know something:  _ it had to do with Diana Cavendish. _

Sucy wasn’t good at expressing her feelings, however, that didn’t erase the fact that they still existed and were still there. Akko had grown on her these past few months. She still cared for her deeply. And _ by the nine _ she wanted to punch Cavendish so bad.

They were currently at the school’s courtyard, waiting for professor Ursula to arrive and train with them. She was sitting beside Lotte. Akko was leaning against a tree. Hannah and Barbara were talking to each other about… the last fashion magazines, apparently.

“O-Oh!” Professor Ursula came out of the door panting. It seemed she’s been running. “Sorry I’m late! I’ve been busy!” She told them, smiling.

All of the students present turned their gaze towards the professor.

“I see everyone but Diana is here… well, she did warn us she’d be late.” Ursula sighed. “Should we start, then? get up!” She excitedly said.

Akko got up, although still a little crestfallen. So did the rest of her team, Barbara and Hannah as well.

“Hannah, Barbara!” Ursula turned to them “Do you think Diana will take long?”

“she’ll probably…” Hannah looked at her watch. “be here in less than two hours or so.”

“Okay! Thank you.” She smiled. “I guess we should start with something rather easy, don’t you girls think?” Ursula said as she took the basketball that she had under her arm and threw it in the air, catching it with only one finger. “You should get changed thought! You will probably…” The professor put a smirk on her face. “Sweat. I little… bit.”

Akko looked confusingly at her roommates. 

**_-/-/-/-_ **

**OKAY, THIS IS HELL.**

Akko thought as she panted madly. She’s been jumping and running around for almost 40 minutes now. It looked  _ SO _ simple when professor Ursula explained it to them.

_ “You just have to touch the basketball!”  _ she hummed happily.

It was unbelievable just how  _ agile _ she was. No one in the entire team even came close to actually touching the ball yet.

“W-wha…” Barbara panted. “Huff… how can she…”

“I-I don’t... “ Hannah.. half-answered.

“Oh c’mon people! I can’t believe you, such young and defined girls, can’t catch a ball from an old lady like me!” Ursula said,  _ currently standing on the top of a tree.  _ “Lift those spirits up!” She jumped from the tree, falling in front of Akko.

Before Ursula touched the ground, Akko jumped towards her, lifting her arm while trying to touch the orange ball. Mrs. Callistis simply threw the ball in the air, using Akko’s head for support as she jumped over the brunette.

Lotte saw an opportunity and tried to catch the ball in the air, but before she could even  _ process _ what was happening, the ball disappeared. 

“What?!” Lotte screamed in euphoria, forgetting that she was jumping, consequently falling to her face.

“I’m sorry!” Ursula suddenly appeared above Lotte from out of nowhere. “Are you okay?!” She asked.

Lotte lifted her head up, looking for her glasses. “Y-yes-” She put them on and was amazed when she looked at the professor.

And  **_boy_ ** _ ,  _ so was Akko.

“You’re FLYING!” Akko screamed as she got closer to Lotte and Ursula.

  
“Am I?” The blue-haired woman asked looking at the ground. She then chuckled. “I guess I am.” 

“YOU CAN FLY?! OH MY GOSH!” The brunette continued her yelling.

“I wouldn’t call it flying… defying gravity would fit better in this situation…” She murmured.

  
_ “Tomayto, tomahto!”  _ Akko said, hopping playfully. “It’s still flying! and It’s amazing!” 

Ursula could understand why Akko felt so amazed by seeing her fly. Judging by all the Shiny Chariot stick-figures in her house, she was probably a big fan of her powers, that includes flying, which was Chariot’s old trademark.  _ Fortunately for her _ , Chariot wasn’t the only one who was able to fly, so it wouldn’t be too suspicious.

“Why are you so excited?” Hannah crossed her arms. “Flying is a normal perk. A lot of heroes had it before.”

“Because I always wanted to fly!” Akko smiled brightly. “Since I was a little kid. You know Shiny Chariot, right?”

Hannah nodded. “Well, yeah. Kind of impossible to not know her nowadays. She was pretty big years ago.”

“Seeing her fly on TV gave me so much hope as a kid. I don’t really know why.” Akko said dreamily. “I want to save people like she did! If she’s alive, I promise that someday I’ll give her the hope that she gave me. She’s the reason of why I want to become a hero!” 

Ursula’s smile faded away.  _ ‘If she’s alive, huh?’  _ She sighed.  _ ‘if only you knew.’ _

“Weren’t we supposed to touch the ball?” Barbara asked.

“Oh, yeah!” Ursula remembered they were still in the middle of the activity. “You still have to get it from me!” She smiled, holding the ball with two hands.

Akko felt blood running through her veins.  _ ‘I missed that!’  _ She thought. “Let’s go then! I’m all fired up again!”

“Good!” Ursula, throwing the ball from one hand to another.

“Professor!” Lotte called her.

“Yes, Lotte?”

  
“Can we use our perks?” The young girl asked.

  
“Why yes, of course! This is a hero-school, it would be unfair if you couldn’t use your powers.”

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?!” Hannah yelled.

  
“I thought you knew!” Ursula blushed.

“Less talking and more action!” Akko said, running towards Ursula. The professor smirked. 

_ ‘This is going to be fun.’  _

**_-/-/-/-_ **

By the time Diana arrived at the courtyard, she was already confused. The reason for that is because she could hear screams from  _ outside _ the school. Things like…

_ “Goddamn it! I almost got it this time!” _

_ “Behind you!” _

_ “This is impossible!” _

“What the hell is happening?” She asked with a low tone of voice when she saw everyone laid on the ground, totally exhausted. The only one who was still on her feet was Akko, which also seemed to be as worn-out as the others were. Professor Ursula was in the middle of the courtyard, apparently having fun with herself.

Akko jumped one more time, her movements getting more and more sloppy.  _ Gosh, she looked like she was about to faint. _

“Akko, if you’re tired, you can get a break-”

“No!” The brunette screamed, still trying to reach the ball.

Diana leaned against the wall, watching Atsuko frenetically jumping and chasing professor Ursula. 

“O-Oh! Diana!” An almost breathless Barbara looked up, seeing her friend. “H-how…” She panted. “How did therapy go?”

  
  


“Wonderfully.” Diana smiled. “Ms. Meridies seems trustful enough.”

Ursula, who was happily dodging Akko like she had been doing for the past two hours, froze completely when the name “Meridies” went through her ears. Akko didn’t notice her professor was completely immobile and in a second, she finally got the ball from Ursula’s hand. “I got it!” She cheered but raised an eyebrow when she noticed her professor’s obscure expression. “Professor Ursula?”

All the students turned their gazes towards Ursula. Diana frowned.

“I-I…” Ursula stammered. “I’m afraid our training will have to end here. Tomorrow our mission will begin and I will wait for you all in front of the school’s gates by approximately 4 pm. ” She said, walking away before anyone could say anything.

  
“Uh… what?” Akko whispered, looking at the ball for a second and then throwing it on the ground. “What was that?”

“I-” Lotte got up. “Have no idea..”

_ ‘That’s… strange.’  _ Diana thought as she looked in the direction where professor Ursula went.

Akko scratched her neck. “At least I got the ball… point for me!”

  
“That’s not fair!” Hannah crossed her arms.

  
“She was distracted,” Barbara added.

“And probably tired of you” Sucy smirked.

“I still got it!” Akko inflated her chest, proud of herself. 

Diana rolled her eyes, smiling a little bit. 

  
“I really need to take a bath..” Hannah whispered to herself, sweating like crazy. “Dia, did you buy the shampoo I asked you to?”

“Sure did.” Diana smiled, showing her the bag that she was holding.

“Thanks, you’re the best! I would hug you but I’m sweating too much” 

“Can’t we just go home?” Barbara questioned them, tying her hair up (which she should’ve done sooner, but she was too busy trying to think of ways to get the ball from professor Ursula)

“I think we should…”

“Wait, Diana!” Akko called the blonde, who looked in her direction. “U-uh…” she bit her lower lip. “Sorry…” the brunette whispered; obviously, Diana wasn’t able to hear her, however, she did read her lips.

“We can talk about this later on the phone, alright?” Diana gave her a kind smile. “It’s okay.”

Sucy looked confusingly between Diana and Akko.  _ ‘so it wasn’t Diana’s fault?’  _ she scratched her cheek, unamused.  _ ‘well, it was fun while it lasted.’  _ Sucy took a bottle from inside her backpack and threw it against the wall. Lotte raised an eyebrow but decides to ignore it because Sucy is  _ naturally  _ weird.

“O-Okay, yeah!” Akko nods happily.

Diana waved at her, then leaving with her roommates.

“You two are so gay.” Sucy said, earning a blush from the crimson-eyed girl.

“We’re just friends.

Also, it’s not like you and Lotte are any better.”

“That’s it, I’ll kill you”

“No!” Akko laughed before running away; Sucy right behind her.

Lotte just shook her head, getting their backpacks and leaving the courtyard.

_ Tomorrow would be full. _

**_-/-/-/-_ **

**_Bonus:_ **

After taking her bath, Akko finally had the courage to sit on her bed and message Diana. She was afraid that Diana was still mad at her, but they needed to sort things out anyway, since they were going to be together all day tomorrow.  _ It would be kinda awkward  _ if they were still not talking to each other until then.

**_Akko_ ** _ : diana? r u there? _

**_Diana:_ ** _ I am. Would you like to talk about what happened yesterday? _

**_Akko:_ ** _ r u sure its not a bother? i think we should talk asap since our mission is tomorrow _

_ r u mad at me? _

_ sorry for being an asshole yesterday _

_ i didnt mean to take it out on you _

_ ur really cool okay? im sorry _

**_Diana:_ ** _ It is fine, do not worry. To be completely honest, I should not have said what I said. It was pretty rude of me and I apologize. _

_ Are we okay? _

**_Akko:_ ** _ no _

**_Diana:_ ** _ What do you mean? Why? _

**_Akko:_ ** _ u still owe me an ice cram y’know _

_ cream* _

_ we wont be okay until you buy me one _

_ >:) _

**_Diana:_ ** _ Fine, fine. I know that. I promise you I will take you to the best Ice Cream store in the entire world then. _

**_Akko:_ ** _ ur the one saying it, not me _

_ ok so the deal is _

_ one ice cream and we’re okay _

_ take it or leave it. _

**_Diana:_ ** _ Take it. _

**_Akko:_ ** _ bold choice miss cavendish, bold choice… _

**_Diana:_ ** _ And congratulations on touching the ball. _

_ even though professor Ursula was standing still. _

**_Akko:_ ** _ aha aha very funny _

_ … _

_ thank u _

  
  
  
  
  
  



	7. Survive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day is finally here! The red and blue teams are ready for their first mission.
> 
> But something unexpected happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING
> 
> There's... explicit blood in this chapter. If it makes you uncomfortable I advise you to not read it.

**_{Akko’s POV}_ **

So, today’s  _ the big day!  _ My first mission; The first of many, I feel. I have to admit that I’m a little scared, I mean, we are going to a cavern that’s near an  _ abandoned village. _ Not only an abandoned village, a petrified one at that.

Lotte’s just as nervous as me. She put  _ literally _ everything she could in her backpack. Sunscreen, repellent, sunglasses, food. Even though professor Ursula already told us that she’s bringing everything we need;  _ “It’s always better to take precautions!”  _ Lotte said, stuffing everything inside her backpack.

“A magic cube?” Sucy took a look at what Lotte was holding, raising an eyebrow. “Is that really necessary?”

“Of course it is,” Lotte responded the pale girl, holding the magic cube closer to her chest “What if we get lost?! This type of entertainment is the only thing that will keep us steps away from insanity!”

“I really don’t think we’ll get lost, Lotte…” I looked at her, scratching the back of my neck “Aren’t you.. overreacting? Plus, professor Ursula can fly, so it would be kinda easy for her to find the right path to where we’re going.”

“And she’s bringing that digital map thingy with her.” Sucy added.

Lotte stared at us with an intense glare for a few seconds and that gave me chills. Being the “mom” of the group, doing that was pretty normal. Sucy and I noticed that not long after I started living with them.

“Fine, I guess you’re right…” Lotte said after a brief sigh, then putting the magic cube away.

“See?” I smiled at Lotte, putting my arm around her neck in a friendly manner. “No need for all this stress. To be honest I thought I was nervous too, but I guess I’m more excited than anything.” I looked at Sucy next “How are you holdin’ up, Sucy?”

“I’m normal,” Her tone was, as always, unimpressed “I want to see if I can find some rare mushrooms. I did my research and apparently there’s a lot of exotic plants around the place we’re going.”

_ “Of course you are going to look for mushrooms”  _ I rolled my eyes, chuckling at that. “You’re a freak for nature, Su-chan.”

Sucy stared at me with a death-glare, and weirdly that… scared the shit out of me. “If you ever call me “Su-chan” again I will decapitate you and give the rest of your body to my dogs that I left back in the Philippines.”

“O-Okay, geez!” I put my hands up in a defensive position. “Wait, you have dogs?”

“Bob and Cassandra.” Lotte responded between giggles. “She also has a tarantula called Zoey.”

“I never thought you were the animal kind of person…”

“Just because I despise humans doesn’t mean I don’t like animals.” Sucy shrugged.

“Makes sense, I guess…” I murmured. 

“Girls, if we don’t get going we’re going to be late!” I heard Lotte said, already in front of the door.

“Oh, yeah!” I hurriedly got my Shiny Chariot backpack from my room and went down the stairs, almost falling in the process, but keeping my balance. When I arrived at the door, Sucy and Lotte were already waiting for me. I don’t know if this is relevant, but for someone who was judging Lotte for bringing so much stuff before, Sucy’s backpack looked  _ extremely heavy. _ Yet she was carrying it like it was nothing. I mean, that must be why her spine is so  _ crooked  _ all the time _. _ “Let’s go girls!”

_ “To our first mission!” _

**_-/-/-/-_ **

“Barbara, I CANNOT believe you brought this book.” I heard when we were approaching the school’s front gate. The blue team was already there, Barbara and Hannah were talking about some book that Barbara was holding while Diana was petting a siamese cat on the sidewalk.

  
“W-What do you mean? Of course I would bring this!” Barbara said while hugging the book closer to her. “It’s my baby! All of them are!”

Hannah rolled her eyes, turning her gaze towards us. “Oh, you’re here. Finally. I thought you weren’t going to show up.”

“What do you mean? Of course we would-” I was interrupted by a hand brutally pushing me away, almost knocking me down “H-Hey! Lotte, what’s-”

“OH MY GOD IS THAT NIGHTFALL VOLUME 224.” Lotte yelled as she looked at the book Barbara was holding.

“WHAT!” Barbara yells back “YOU KNOW NIGHTFALL?”

“OF COURSE I DO!” Lotte holds her head with both of her hands, taking off her glasses for one second and… doing a British accent I never knew Lotte could do.  _ “Oh, Edgar!”  _ She started dramatically,  _ “I am afraid we must part ways from now on. It is too dangerous, my darling! Alucard discovered the truth behind our lies and now promised to follow me to the netherworld if it is necessary!” _

Fortunately (for her, at least), Barbara’s accent is already present because she  _ is  _ British, so she doesn’t have to force it; Actually apparently I’m the only one enjoying this because Hannah’s covering her face with her hands, Sucy is looking jealously at Barbara and Diana is still petting the cat, but now with a  _ very  _ confused look on her face. I find it… fun, I guess?  _ “But my beloved Belle!”  _ Barbara responded, her tone just as dramatic as Lotte’s  _ “I cannot stay away from you! I am in complete and utter love! It feels like I fell under your spell!” _

_  
_ “Please someone just kill me right now” Hannah murmured while Barbara and Lotte continued their fangirling about the book. “I can’t take this”

Diana chuckled. “It’s not so bad. Remember when you became a huge fan of those Korean boys?”

“Please don’t remind me of my kpopper phase.” Hannah said with a flat tone.

Diana let out a playful laugh.  _ Gods, even her laugh is perfect.  _ I should probably enjoy this moment because Diana doesn’t seem like the type that laughs a lot.

  
“Oh, Akko.” She turned to me with a gentle smile on her face. That surprised me, since I was apparently drowned in my own thoughts. “Are you well?”

“I’m better now that you’re here-” I accidentally said that- Why dID I SAY THAT

“Huh?” She raised an eyebrow.

“I’m fine!” I quickly responded, trying to change the subject “And you?”

  
“I’m good. Thank you for asking.” She smiled gently again.

“Ah, you’re all here already!” We all turned to professor Ursula, who was behind us with a  _ GIGANTIC _ backpack on her back. I thought Sucy’s looked heavy? pff! nonsense! That backpack seemed to weigh tons.

I mean,  _ yeah _ , Ursula was our professor and I expected her to be kind of...strong? But she’s always hiding her arms- something that seemed to catch Diana’s attention as well, since I’ve seen her looking at her arms now and then- so I couldn’t tell by appearance if she’s strong or not… that is, until now…

Professor Ursula hiding her arms isn’t what caught our attention, though. 

A few days ago a girl- Blair, I think- Accidentally pulled her sleeve a little bit and for the first time, Ursula  _ really _ got angry. She knocked down the girl and screamed at how she should be more careful, but not in her gentle tone… she looked  _ furious. _

_ Diana and I noticed that. _

  
  


I’ve thought about asking professor Ursula about it, but It looked like she really doesn’t want to talk about it. I can tell by the way she screamed at Blair the other day.

_ Maybe it has something to do with her perk? _

“We should get going before it gets dark. We will probably spend the weekend there, so I’m bringing some sleeping bags and lots of foods, other things that may be useful as well, since we will be out in the danger.” Ursula said happily. “Rule number one will be to stay together. We don’t know what dangers we will face and what we will have to fight. Okay?”

“Okay!” Everyone responded in unison.

“Uh, professor, how will we get there?” Lotte asked, fixing her glasses

“See that trailer over there?” She pointed at a red-colored trailer with flowers stamps all around it. “That’s our car. Well, my car.”

“Wait, you drive a trailer?” Hannah sounded confused

“Yeah, pretty much!” Ursula answered with her usual smile. “Get in girls, the trip will be tiring!”

**_-/-/-/-_ **

She was right. It  _ is _ tiring.

We've been inside this trailer for the past 5 hours now. If it wasn't for my Nintendo switch I don't know what the fuck I would do.  _ It's so boring! _

Barbara and Lotte have been talking about Nightfall for about 5 hours now too. Sucy's doing… well, I don't know! something weird with her skin. I think it has to do with alchemy… Look, Sucy is really weird, I just don't know.

Hannah has been sleeping on Diana's lap for the entire time.  _ This girl sleeps like a rock. _

And Diana… 

oh my god she's looking at me

  
“Akko?” I heard her call my name and immediately put an awkward grin on my face

“Y-Yeah?”

“You have been staring at me for the past few minutes…” 

I inflated my cheeks, feeling the heat coming up to them. “I… I was looking at the window behind you!”

Diana looked behind her, confirming that there was  _ indeed _ a window there. She  _ obviously  _ knew that I wasn’t looking at the window at all, Diana’s not dumb for fuck’s sake. I raised an eyebrow when she turned to look at me again with a sly smirk upon her face. “Wow Akko, I know I’m beautiful, but you don’t have to keep staring at me.”

.

.

.

_ What? _

I completely froze after that. She totally saw through me, didn’t she?

“I s-swear I wasn’t looking at you, ok?! Geez!” I  _ pretended  _ to be angry, but I was actually really nervous. Biting my lower lip, I looked back at my Nintendo switch.  _ I was probably blushing. Nice. _

She wasn’t lying though…

_ She’s beautiful. _

I mean, I think I have the permission to say that without sounding too gay, right? I think anyone could at least admit Diana was beautiful,  _ even if it was a straight girl. _ How could they not, though?! Everything about her is perfect! Her eyes, her  _ complexion _ , Diana forgive me but, her body, yeah. I  _ still  _ didn’t find any defects in her. But… we’ll see about that, I guess.

“We’re here, girls!” I heard professor Ursula say, getting her  _ ginormous backpack  _ from the passenger's seat and getting out of the trailer. “Don’t forget anything! We don’t know when we’ll be back here again.”

“Gee, way to encourage us…” Barbara murmured. She looked a little skeptical about  _ actually _ bringing her book after hearing Ursula say that. 

“Han… Han. Wake up, we’re here.” Diana rubbed Hannah’s arm, trying to wake her up.

“Please don’t eat my vanilla Ice Cream, Jungkook… you already have yours…” Hannah… mumbled, while rubbing her eyes. I think she was half-asleep, since she was already opening her eyes.

I… won’t even question it.

Diana chuckled. “Come on Hannah. You can have your weird dreams about your Korean boys later.” 

  
“What? Diana? Where’s Jungkook?” Hannah mumbled again

“Probably in South Korea. Get up.”

“Uuh… fine…” Hannah got up from Diana’s lap, still rubbing her eyes. “He ate my Ice cream…”

“Did he? Ow, that’s not very nice of him.” She said while grabbing Hannah’s backpack and helping her put it on.  _ It looked like she was taking care of a kid?  _

“I know, right?” Hannah answered, outraged.

I looked at them very confused. Barbara approached me, probably noticing I was as confused as a blind man in a shooting, and whispered “Hannah takes a while to fully wake up. That’s normal, just move on.” 

“O-Okay…” I whispered, getting my own backpack and then leaving the trailer.

So, the city.

I was asking myself why we didn’t stop near the cavern, but in the moment I stepped out of the trailer, I could understand it perfectly. There were huge rocks everywhere; blocking our path, consequently. If that wasn’t enough, I looked through a breach between the rocks to see if we can at least see the village at all…

And I got goosebumps all over my body. But not the good kind of goosebumps.

The place… the city, the ground,  _ everything _ was petrified. There was nothing  _ but  _ gray for what I could see from that breach. But that wasn’t the worst part.

There were… people there. Women, men, seniors, _ children.  _ They were all… turned into stone. And their faces… they looked completely terrified, like something was about to attack them in the exact moment they were petrified. 

“G-Guys…” I whispered “You… you have to see this.” I took a step back, giving space for the others to see the apparent atrocity that happened to that village.

Professor Ursula was the first to look through the breach; she didn’t look as terrified as I was when I saw all those people, but she still looked sad.. almost disappointed. “It was true then. The village is not the only thing that was petrified… its residents were too.”

Diana took a brief look, whispering “If I were to judge their clothes, they seem to be wearing something that people would wear back in the 70s.”

  
“I noticed that too.” Ursula responded, bringing her hand up to her chin 

“From the look of their faces it doesn’t look like something petrified them, but  _ someone… _ ” Lotte said after looking. “And something tells me it came from there…” She said as she pointed at a  _ very _ large cavern just outside the village. It was still behind the boulders, so we would have to find a way to get past them anyway.

“Okay girls… I’ll fly over the boulders and tell you if the coast is clear. “ Professor Ursula said as we watched her feet get out of the ground.  _ That never failed to amaze me. _ “Diana, I’ll remind you that you are the leader. If I don’t come back in 15 minutes, I expect you to lead this group.”

“Of course.” Diana responded with her usual  _ perfect heroic posture. _

_ ‘How can she even do that?!’  _ I internally thought, trying to fix my own posture

Our professor nodded, flying over the huge rocks that stood in front of us. I heard someone sigh from afar, then turning to the origin of the sound; It was Barbara, who was leaning against the trailer’s front.

  
“How long do you think we’re going to stay here” She didn’t seem to be asking someone in particular, just shooting it in the air and waiting for someone to answer her

I hummed, holding my backpack’s straps and looking at the sky “dunno. I don’t think professor Ursula know either, she just told us that it might take all weekend…”

Barbara let out another sigh, a disappointed one this time. “Right. Thank you.”   
  
“Are you okay?” Lotte went to her, her tone as gentle as ever

“Yeah. I had a date on sunday. Guess I’ll have to cancel-”

“YOU WHAT” Hannah screamed and we all looked at her. She was near the rocks, probably looking through the breach, but she seemed extremely alarmed by what Barbara said “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DIDN’T TELL ME THIS YOU  _ TRAITOROUS BITCH _ ” Hannah’s tone made her sound more excited for Barbara than angry at her. She immediately walked to her black-haired friend, smiling like crazy- no, I mean it, she was smiling so hard I could swear on my life that it looked like her cheeks were hurting “What’s his name, I want to know RIGHT NOW”   
  
“It’s, huh…” Barbara looked embarrassed “LeoDeservedBetter324” She got a confused look from both Hannah and… well, me

“Oh I know right!” Lotte said “He was such a cool guy. Edgar shouldn’t have killed him! He was trying to help!”

  
“No, eh… that’s the person’s name… or whatever…” Barbara shrugged, still trying to hide her embarrassment

“Wait, your boyfriend’s name is Leo Deserved Better Three Two Four?” I raised an eyebrow, confused. Obviously I was just joking, I’m not  _ that dumb _ “That is the weirdest name I’ve ever heard!”

It surprised me when I heard a laugh from beside me. Not a chuckle, but a  _ laugh, all the way.  _ I looked at her, facing Diana who was laughing uncontrollably; that made me put an unconscious smile upon my face

Barbara only rolled her eyes, shaking her head. She was chuckling though, so point for me! Boy, it was really good to make new friends, wasn’t it? Maybe this whole mission experience isn’t just for training, but for some team bonding too! 

We don’t know what we will see. What we will find;  _ who  _ we will find, if we do find someone.  _ And I can see everyone is a bit nervous, even Diana. _ I’m good at these things. So some bonding before the actual mission begins will be refreshing.

Professor Ursula came back some minutes before. She told us she didn’t see anyone or anything near the cave, but we should still be careful nevertheless. It looks like a pretty big cave, after all. One question has been on my mind though…

_ Why did the people in the village seem scared? _

If they were simply petrified, I doubt their faces would look as terrified as they are now. They were also looking at the sky, so either whatever it is that made them scared also had the ability to fly… or they could jump really high.

We ended up going around the rocks; We preferred not to look to all the  _ suffering people _ around us. Or at least… I tried to, I guess. But it didn’t make any sense! Who in their right minds would have a heart so evil to petrify an  _ entire village?!  _

I buffed, shaking my head and looking at the ground. I was angry. People like that made me angry.  _ Villains made me angry. _

_ Maybe that’s why I chose to fight them instead of just watching heroes do it for me on the TV. _

It didn’t get long before we arrived at the cave. It wasn’t exactly an enormous village. What made me amazed is that the cave didn’t need any torches or lamps to be lit; In its walls, there were strange ores that looked like diamonds- no,  _ crystals.  _ They were keeping the cavern lit with their  _ natural glow.  _ Isn’t it amazing? I didn’t even know that existed!!

We gave the idea that professor Ursula went ahead of us but she refused, saying that it would be safer if she stayed with us instead.

We’re not babies! We can totally take care of ourselves.

“I agree, professor.” That came from Diana. “It would not be reasonable to let a group of amateur heroes-  _ students, at that  _ \- wander through this cavern alone. You have commented with us that the people that were sent here did not come back, and those who did look completely terrified.”

...I agree with professor Ursula! That was a wise decision!

“Yes. But that is not the only reason.” I bit my lower lip, feeling curiosity climbing up to my head.

“Oh? and would you care to share the other reason with us?” Diana asked, checking the crystals in the walls as we walked

Ursula-sensei sighed. “I should be not talking about this, but I’m afraid it will be better if we avoid keeping any secrets.” She started, “Some of the people that come back- not all of them - reported something that apparently they saw in the very bottom of the cavern. They didn’t give out any details, because apparently in the second they saw it they started hearing voices in their heads and ran away, but,” She looked over her shoulder at us “from what I heard… a katana.”

“A… Katana?” I asked her

“Yes… not an usual one, from what they’ve seen…A snake coiled around its hilt; and its dark blade coming out of the animal’s mouth. It’s aura as white as the clouds we see in the sky...”

“You have to be lying.” Diana looked  _ completely  _ and  _ utterly _ shook. Almost… scared. Her eyes were widened and she stopped walking, looking at the professor. “That would be…”

“Tenebris, yes.” Professor Ursula also stopped; Diana and she seemed to be the only ones understanding the conversation.

“the Tene-what?” I pouted, trying to remember that name.  _ I’ve heard it… seen it, somewhere before. _

“Tenebris…” Diana whispered, bringing her hand up to her chin. “When Arcturus and Yggdrasil, titans of darkness and light, left our realm to rest near the core of the planet we are walking upon in this exact moment, they have decided to create something to enforce their trust in each other; something that took both of their powers. Something unbreakable, that would seemingly made its wielder invincible.”

“So they made it; ‘A snake coiled around its hilt’ representing the nature, a creation of Yggdrasil himself when he looked at the world and the agonizing view of incompletion; he was an Elder Titan made by the gods, after all, and he should be just as perfect as them. He looked at the sea once more and decided; what this planet needed was  _ life.  _ So he created civilizations, islands, animals. Among these, he created the snake, in which he chose to represent nature, his most precious creation.” Ursula sighed “And no one knows what the dark blade represents; the titan Arcturus never specified it. People theorize, however, that there is something to do with the darkness that the human being is capable of holding within his heart.”

“And… no one was able to use it until now?” I heard Lotte ask

“We do not know. We don’t even know if the katana is real or if the people that saw it hit their heads and went crazy.” She explained “But it’s dangerous. That’s why I don’t want you to go alone.”

Tenebris,  _ huh? _

I’ve totally heard or read about it before. It’s more clear now. But I was struggling to remember when or how, even where.

“We should continue. We don’t know for how much time we’re gonna be in he-” 

I widened my eyes when I saw professor Ursula fall to her knees, fainting immediately. At the moment I took a step forward to run towards her, I felt someone pushing me to the ground; I fell looking at Diana, who laid beside me.

“What is going o-” I was going to ask, but Diana put her hand in front of my mouth, silencing me. That’s when she pointed to all the other girls in the group- who apparently were also asleep, beside from Sucy, who disappeared; she was probably hiding behind one of the rocks in the cavern.

“Sleep darts…” Diana whispered. That’s why Sucy wasn’t there, then… her perk makes her invulnerable at these types of darts.

  
“But who…” Diana covered my mouth again.

“Someone’s awake, chief! I hear voices!” we saw a man approaching us. He had a weird mask on his face, it looked like it was made of refined wood and green leaves; His clothes were very tribal, made of leather. 

“Find them. We can’t let anyone here get out until we find  _ her _ .” A rougher tone said, although I couldn’t see him

I looked at Diana with my eyes widened, not knowing what to do. I could feel my breathing getting more and more intense as I heard the footsteps get closer.  _ ‘I can’t believe I’m going to die in my first mission!’  _

I could feel my whole body trembling. I didn’t want to die. I just started my career as a hero- I have so much I want to do, so many places I want to go. Tears were starting to come up in the corner of my eyes and Diana noticed that, brushing them away with a calming look.  _ How can she be so calm in a situation like this? _

She approached her mouth to my ear and that give me instant chills

“Close your eyes and pretend you’re asleep…It’s going to be okay.” Diana whispered as calm as she could and then got up before I could say anything.

_ ‘WHAT IN THE WORLD IS SHE DOING?!’  _ I exclaimed to myself

“Hey-” Her tone got a little more rushed “Hey, hey! It’s okay, there’s no need to be aggressive!” She started “We don’t want any trouble… we are only a group of students in an expedition-”

“Who are you?!” The rougher voice said

“M-My name is Diana Cavendish… I’m a student at Luna Nova Academy…”

“Cavendish, eh? Chief, you were right! She really was coming!”

“What do… what do you want with me?”

The place stayed quiet for a second; But I noticed Diana’s breathing was becoming more intense.

I could hear larger footsteps getting closer to Diana and I.

“It is good to have you here, Cavendish… It would be troublesome to find you in the big city.”

“W-what?”

I opened my eye a little bit and noticed a big and muscular guy in front of Diana, taking out his mask. He had scars all over his face- no, all over his body, and no hair on his head. There were a lot of guys around us. They were wearing the same clothes as the other man that we just saw.

“Do you know who I am?” He asked, throwing his mask on the ground.   
  
“I’m afraid not, sir-” Diana responded, but was interrupted by the large guy, who grabbed her from her shirt’s collar and lifted her off the ground.  _ That outraged me.  _ I wanted to get up and punch the guy in his face, but I doubt I would be able to do much with all those people surrounding us.

“DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM, KID?!” He screamed to her face

“No!” Diana screamed back. 

_ I don’t understand! _

Why wasn’t Diana acting? why wasn’t she using her perk? She was totally capable of taking these guys down! That would open a breach for us to beat the rest of them!

Did she have something in mind?

“YOUR MOTHER DESTROYED MY FUCKING LIFE!” He threw her against the wall; Diana let a painful whimper out. I could see some blood coming out of her- oh god,  _ did she hit the crystals?!  _ “You don’t know how much time I’ve waited to get my hands on you! If I can’t make her suffer, I will destroy the thing she loved the most!” He said as he kicked her guts

_ That’s it. _

I got up in a jump; I felt pure rage replacing all my rational thoughts, as if I was losing my mind completely. I pushed the big guy as strong as I could but that was just enough to deconcentrate him and make him lose his balance for a second “GET AWAY FROM HER!”

  
“Akko!-” Diana yelled and I looked at her. That was a complete mistake; in the exact second I looked away from the man I felt a fist against my own face.  _ That’s the second time I break my nose in just one week. Incredible.  _ That made all my senses get confused; I couldn’t see anything right and I felt incredibly dizzy.

“I will kill you, you brat!” The man threw another punch at me and I closed my eyes, but the punch never reached my face. When I opened my eyes, I saw Diana holding the man’s gigantic fist with both of her hands. Her veins were glowing, so she was probably using her perk,  _ and it still looked like she was struggling _

I looked at her back and understood why she was struggling so much to stay on her feet.

Her back was bleeding like crazy. When she hit the wall, I think she ended up hitting some of the  _ pointy _ crystals too.

“ATSUKO, RUN!”   
  
“BUT DIANA!” 

  
“RUN BEFORE THEY CATCH YOU!”

That’s when my mind reminded me the fact that there were  _ dozens _ of guys surrounding us,  _ and they were running my way. _

_ I had no fucking choice.  _

“I’m sorry!” I said loudly and started to run away before the tribal men could catch me

“DON’T LET HER GET AWAY! KILL HER!”

“Yes sir!” One of the men holding a _big cleaver_ that was already following me responded. I felt my legs weaken… from _pure fear._

**It all happened too fast.**

_ I saw red. _

Blood everywhere. On the ground, staining Diana’s white dress shirt,  _ and even mine’s. _

“DIANA!” I screamed at the top of my lungs when she, once more, got in front of the attack, saving me from what could possibly be my last moments alive.

I couldn’t see it clearly from all the adrenaline that was pumping into my heart, but there was  _ so much blood coming from Diana’s chest. _ She managed to punch the guy in the face, knocking him out, but there was a  _ fucking cleaver stuck in her chest,  _ tearing her clothes and especially flesh apart.

_ “W-WHAT ARE YOU WAIT-WAITING FOR?!”  _ She woke me up by screaming. There was too much blood coming out of her mouth too, so the blood was probably filling her own lungs... Her voice was cracking, as if she was losing all the strength she had. 

_ She isn’t going to last for long like this! We have to do something about her wounds! _   
  
“DIANA! IF YOU STAY LIKE THIS YOU’RE GOING TO DIE-”

“I D-DON’T FUCKING CARE!” She took the cleaver from her chest and put it in my hands, pushing me as strong as she could, which in this condition, even with her perk on, it wasn’t much. That opened a breach for me to see her chest wound more clearly.

I could almost see her ribs.

“ _ Y-YOU HAV- HAVE TO GET THE F-FUCK OUT OF HERE! _ I’LL TA-KE CARE OF THEM!”   
  
“DIANA, I’M NOT GOING T-!”   
  
**“YOU’RE ONLY GOING TO GET IN MY WAY!”**

  
  


I stared at her for a second after she pushed me away once more, my eyes widened.  _ I knew it was the truth, but having her say it to my face was so… _

_ painful. _

And then I ran.

I ran for my life as fast as I could, not looking back for one second. I don’t even know if they are following me anymore.

_ I’m afraid. _

_ I’m afraid of losing my friends. _

_ I’m afraid of losing Diana. _

Her perk didn’t matter in that occasion. Her situation was terrible, there was no way she was able to take down all those guys in that condition.

Gosh, it was possible- no, it was  _ PROBABLE _ that she _ died _ in the middle of the battle from blood loss!

But I was useless! I couldn’t do anything, so I ran away like a scared little girl!

I couldn’t see anything in front of me anymore. Tears were falling down my face crazily and the adrenaline was preventing me of seeing where I was going. I wasn’t even holding the cleaver anymore; I probably dropped it minutes ago.

I ran for what felt like hours, with just one thought in my mind:

_ I have to survive! _

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made something for this chapter, please don't kill me
> 
> https://66.media.tumblr.com/957221a4fe46961c2dde63dc98607cb0/56e54a478cfe8e06-77/s540x810/6dfa83dae36f6f2bf21cfc23190fa6b3729d7b1b.png


End file.
